The United States is hosting the biggest sporting event on earth, and the man the White House put in charge of it is Rudy Giuliani's son, who is now defending the deportation of an internationally vetted FIFA referee by saying the guy was talking to 'some very bad people.' No evidence. Classified. You'll have to take his word for it. Welcome to the 2026 World Cup.
Meet Your World Cup Czar
Andrew Giuliani is the executive director of the White House's World Cup task force. That is a real job title held by a real person who is the son of Rudy Giuliani, the man who melted in a parking lot next to a landscaping company while claiming to have overturned a presidential election. The apple, apparently, does not fall far from the tree.
On Sunday, the younger Giuliani sat down with CBS News in Dallas to explain a string of immigration decisions that have turned the lead-up to the most-watched tournament in human history into a diplomatic tire fire. He explained very little. He was very confident about it.
The Referee Who Got Booted
Omar Artan is a Somali referee. FIFA selected him as one of only 52 officials worldwide to work the 2026 World Cup, the result of a three-year vetting process FIFA says it conducted before finalizing its list. Artan completed all required visa paperwork. He flew to Miami International Airport. Customs and Border Protection turned him around and sent him home.
The stated reason, according to an administration official CBS News spoke with last week, was 'derogatory information' including 'association with suspected members of terror organizations.' No evidence has been released. No charges have been filed. The administration has not shown anyone anything.
Giuliani's elaboration on Sunday was that Artan 'was talking to some very bad people right as he was coming to the United States,' and that there is 'classified information we can't discuss now.' He added that it 'may be released at some point.' Reassuring stuff. Meanwhile, UEFA, the governing body of European soccer, was so terrified of Artan's dangerous associations that they selected him to referee the European Super Cup final between PSG and Aston Villa just days after the U.S. sent him packing.
Iran's Team Gets a Strict Schedule, No Tourists Allowed
Iran qualified for the World Cup. The United States is currently in the middle of months of military conflict with Iran. This has created some logistical awkwardness that the Trump administration is handling with the subtlety you would expect.
Iranian players and coaches have been approved to enter the country, but under terms that read less like a visa and more like a hall pass. According to Giuliani's interview with CBS News, the team can arrive the day before each match and must leave the evening of match day. No extra time. No training camps on American soil. Iran was originally scheduled to prepare in Arizona. They're in Mexico now.
Some Iranian team officials have been denied entry entirely, with Giuliani citing Secretary of State Marco Rubio's position that anyone with 'direct ties' to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps won't be allowed in. Iranian fans face an outright ban under the administration's travel restrictions, with Giuliani telling CBS News that 'with conflict in Iran right now, we can't risk national security in having their fans.' The fans. At a soccer game. In a stadium.
Players Getting Pulled Aside, ICE Is at the Games
Giuliani confirmed to CBS News that 'a few' World Cup players have been referred for secondary inspection at American airports, including members of Iraq's national team. He said all players have ultimately been allowed in, even if they were held for 'a couple of hours.' He said he 'feels confident' this will continue to be the case. Great. Very comforting. A couple hours in CBP detention is fine as long as it works out.
ICE agents will also be present at World Cup events. Giuliani defended their involvement, highlighting the Homeland Security Investigations branch's role in combating human trafficking at major events. When CBS News asked him directly whether ICE agents at World Cup venues would engage in immigration enforcement against people in the country illegally, Giuliani declined to give a straight answer. He said people who came 'legally' have 'nothing to worry about.' Asked whether undocumented fans should attend matches, he punted to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin. So that's a no, then.
Four Countries' Fans Can't Even Come Watch
Citizens of Haiti, Iran, Ivory Coast, and Senegal face restrictions entering the United States under Trump's travel ban. All four countries qualified for the World Cup being hosted by the United States. Haiti and Iran face categorical bans. Ivory Coast and Senegal fans can apply for waivers.
Giuliani defended the Haitian ban by citing visa overstay rates and what he called 'the dire political situation in their homeland,' which is a remarkable thing to say about a group of people you are simultaneously refusing to let travel anywhere. CBS News reports that over 6 million match tickets have been sold, and the administration has pointed to that number as proof everything is going fine. Whether any of those tickets were sold to fans who can't actually board a plane to get here is a question no one in the White House seems eager to answer.
The Dingo Take
Let's be honest about what is happening here. The United States lobbied hard for the right to host the World Cup. It is a once-in-a-generation event that is supposed to showcase American hospitality and competitiveness to the entire planet. Billions of people will watch. And the administration's preparation has consisted of deporting a FIFA referee with no public evidence, putting Iran's team on a match-day-in, match-day-out schedule like they're on parole, stationing ICE agents at stadiums, and banning the fans of four qualifying nations from entering the country. This is the welcome mat.
Andrew Giuliani is not the disease here, he's a symptom. The guy got this job because his last name is Giuliani, and he is performing exactly as well as that credential suggests. When he tells CBS News that classified information about a referee 'may be released at some point,' he is doing the same thing his father did in every single press conference for four years: asserting without proving, promising without delivering, and expecting the assertion itself to be treated as the proof. It is a family tradition at this point.
The wildest part is that this is all self-inflicted. FIFA gave the U.S. this tournament. The referees were vetted. The teams qualified by playing soccer. All the administration had to do was stay out of the way and let people play. Instead they have turned a global celebration into a security theater production where Somali referees get deported on classified grounds and Iranian players sprint to catch their flight home before midnight. If this is what winning looks like, the rest of the world is welcome to the trophy.
