Amnesty Worldwide says the United States is “dealing with a human rights emergency” in a brand new report on the 2026 World Cup, describing the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as posing a “chilling menace” to followers and even “gamers themselves”. The human rights organisation additionally warn that extreme restrictions on freedom of expression and peaceable protest throughout all three hosts threaten the “secure, welcoming and inclusive” event promised by Fifa.
The report – titled “Humanity Should Win: Defending rights, tackling repression on the 2026 FIFA World Cup” – follows on from related work on earlier tournaments and largely focuses on Donald Trump’s United States and significantly anti-immigration insurance policies, particularly given nearly all of the event is being held there. There may be nonetheless additionally protection on the repression of protests in each Mexico and Canada, and different points.
Amnesty level to how the “human rights emergency” is marked by “discriminatory immigration insurance policies, mass detentions and arbitrary arrests by masked, armed brokers from ICE. US Customs and Border Safety (CBP) and different companies”.
Except for the issue some followers could have in entering into the US to help their groups, the report argues that immigrant communities face dangers when travelling to or gathering for video games.
Solely 4 of the 16 host cities have to date printed human rights plans, and none have but stated something about safety from immigration enforcement, with Amnesty pointing to how Dallas, Houston and Miami have all signed “problematic agreements for native regulation enforcement companies to collaborate with ICE”.
Followers of Cote d’Ivoire, Haiti, Iran and Senegal will in the meantime be unable to journey and enter the US except that they had legitimate visas earlier than 1 January 2026, because of journey bans underneath the Trump administration. Amnesty add that different followers face “intrusive surveillance, with proposals to pressure guests to make their social media accounts out there for vetting and screening for ‘anti-Americanism’.
“Regardless of the astounding numbers of arrests and deportations, neither FIFA nor the US authorities have supplied any ensures that followers and native communities might be secure from ethnic and racial profiling, indiscriminate raids, or illegal detention and deportation,” stated Amnesty Worldwide’s Head of Financial and Social Justice, Steve Cockburn. He additionally references how the US authorities has deported greater than 500,000 from the nation in 2025 – “greater than six instances as many individuals than will watch the World Cup ultimate within the MetLife Stadium”.
“The record-breaking surge of illegal arrests and deportations has solely been potential due to the erosion of due course of safeguards, undermining the rights to liberty and safety of a whole bunch of 1000’s of migrants and refugees. These insurance policies have torn communities aside and created a local weather of worry all through the USA. It’s a deeply troubling time within the US, which will definitely prolong to followers who need to participate in World Cup celebrations.”
Mexico has in the meantime mobilised 100,000 safety personnel, together with the army, in response to excessive ranges of violence, which Amnesty really feel raises dangers for folks protesting. These embody ladies activists who’re planning a peaceable protest for the opening match at Estadio Azteca in Mexico Metropolis, searching for reality, justice and treatment for the disappearance of family members. In Canada, the impression of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver and a rising housing disaster have raised fears that individuals experiencing homelessness will once more be displaced and pushed additional to the margins. On 15 March, authorities in Toronto closed a winter warming centre offering shelter for folks experiencing homelessness, because the venue had been pre-booked to be used by Fifa.
Since World Cups are sometimes the main target of protests – particularly amid a lot unrest over the continuing battle within the Gulf and Israel-Palestine – Amnesty say there are additionally dangers that demonstrations might be repressed given that each one three host nations have seen “restrictions on the best to freedom of expression and peaceable meeting”.
The report factors to the Trump administration concentrating on foreign-born college students protesting Israeli actions in Gaza, whereas US residents “protesting and monitoring aggressive immigration enforcement actions have been killed by federal brokers”.
Canada has in the meantime seen demonstrations about Gaza “unduly dispersed or cleared by the police”.
Mexico has additionally skilled a collection of World Cup-related protests by residents offended in regards to the disruptions to water provides, entry to land, rising prices and gentrification linked to infrastructure growth in host cities. Amnesty worry the “militarised nature of Mexico’s safety mobilisation for the event brings dangers that additional protests might be repressed.
The physique finally say “pressing motion” is required to really fulfil Fifa’s dedication to a event the place everybody “feels secure, included, and free to train their rights”.
