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Members of Immigration and Customs Enforcement will be staffed in Los Angeles during the World Cup but will not be actively detaining foreign travelers, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said this week.
ICE’s presence at World Cup games has been an ongoing discussion, especially in Los Angeles, to the point that SoFi Stadium union workers issued a complaint to the attorney general of California, stating that they could be at risk of being targeted by ICE due to FIFA’s accreditation process.
However, Luna said at a news conference that he was told by the head of Homeland Security for the Los Angeles region that “civil immigration enforcement…would not be occurring at any of the games.”
“There will be federal agents … because it’s going to take all of us to make sure that all the venues, the scoped and unscoped events, are secure,” Luna said, via Reuters. “But in regard to civil immigration enforcement, they told us that specifically would not be occurring at any of the games.
“Any of that is subject to change, but I have trust that they’re giving me the appropriate information because if that starts occurring, we’re going to have a whole new host of problems,” he added.
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ICE acting director Todd Lyons has said that it would play a “key part” in ensuring security during the tournament, something Luna confirmed.
Luna also said that “additional staffing” would be provided for Iran’s two games at SoFi Stadium amid the war overseas.
“Iran does bring a different dynamic because of the current world events,” Luna said.
Iran’s first game is June 15 against New Zealand — it will also play Belgium in L.A. six days later before facing Egypt in Seattle on June 26 to close out group play.
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Eight games will be played at SoFi Stadium, including the U.S. opener against Paraguay on June 12, which can be watched on FOX at 9 p.m. ET.
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