2026 FIFA World Cup dreams or border nightmares in US?

The world’s biggest football party is coming, but will everyone feel welcome? As the US prepares to host most of the 2026 World Cup, rising anti-immigrant laws and fears of profiling threaten to overshadow the spirit of unity. Football fans and experts are wary about the US matches, amid fears that the American government has plunged into authoritarian territory, notably through the major campaign against immigrants, which saw numerous people arrested and deported, mostly wrongfully or based on Cold War–era acts. Will the 2026 World Cup be a celebration of global unity or a stage set for exclusion and fear on US soil?