Dark clouds hang over the US World Cup team because of Trump's anti-immigrant policies

The men's team scored the most points ever made by a US in a FIFA match

As the US government struggles to limit who can be an American, jeers turned into cheers when the immigrant-laden US Men’s National Team delivered a historic 4-1 victory over Paraguay in their 2026 FIFA World Cup opener Friday.

The success on the pitch highlights a sharp irony, as over one-third of the USMNT squad consists of immigrants or children of immigrants whose communities are targeted by aggressive immigration policies and threats to birthright citizenship. 

When the US Men’s National Team (USMNT) steps onto the global stage for the FIFA World Cup, they look like the perfect picture of modern Americat  intererracial, multilingual, and unapologetically diverse. But back home, the ground is shifting beneath their feet. 

Even as these athletes wear the Red, White, and Blue, the Trump administration's relentless anti-immigrant policies and sweeping immigration raids cast a dark shadow over the tournament.

When you look at the 26-man roster, 11 players are immigrants or the children of immigrants. That is over one-third of the team. In a rational world, they are celebrated heroes. In today’s political climate, their families are targets.

The table below combines both the foreign-born players and the US-born children of immigrants representing the squad:

Player	Birthplace	Immigrant / Heritage Connection
Alejandro Zendejas	Ciudad Juárez, Mexico	Born in Mexico; immigrated to El Paso, Texas.
Sergiño Dest	Almere, Netherlands	Born in the Netherlands to a Surinamese-American father.
Antonee Robinson	Milton Keynes, UK	Born in England to a British-American father.
Timothy Weah	Brooklyn, New York	Born in the U.S. to a Liberian father and Jamaican mother.
Folarin Balogun	Brooklyn, New York	Born in the U.S. to Nigerian immigrant parents.
Ricardo Pepi	El Paso, Texas	Born in the U.S. to Mexican immigrant parents.
Haji Wright	Los Angeles, California	Born in the U.S. to Liberian and Ghanaian parents.
Cristian Roldan	Artesia, California	Born in the U.S. to a Guatemalan father and Salvadoran mother.
Mark McKenzie	Bronx, New York	Born in the U.S. and raised by a Jamaican father.
Malik Tillman	Nuremberg, Germany	Born in Germany to an African-American military father.
Gio Reyna	Sunderland, UK	Born in England while his American soccer-playing father was abroad.

(Note: While Sebastian Berhalter was also born in London, UK, he moved back to the U.S. as a young child with his American parents.) [4]

Who could lose under Trump's immigrants

Let’s be blunt about the stakes. The administration isn't just targeting undocumented workers in the fields; their legal maneuvers threaten the very definition of who gets to be an American.

 The United States is home to approximately 50 to 53 million immigrants (foreign-born residents), with nearly 14 to 14.6 million of them originating from Asia. Altogether, they make up about 15% of the US population.

FYI: Read more about the USMNT players  diverse backgrounds on El País or track the ongoing SCOTUS legal battles via the ACLU Defending Birthright Citizenship campaign.

Mass deportation raids don't check for World Cup resumes. Players with immediate family members who are green card holders, asylum seekers, or visa holders are watching the headlines with dread. For instance, Ricardo Pepi’s family roots trace directly back to Mexico, and Cristian Roldan's parents immigrated from Central America—the exact communities bearing the brunt of aggressive ICE enforcement.

On Day One of his second term, Trump signed Executive Order 14160 aimed at stripping birthright citizenship from children born in the US if their parents lack specific legal status. Right now, the Supreme Court is deciding Trump v. Barbara, a blockbuster case that could dismantle the 14th Amendment's Citizenship Clause.

If the conservative SCOTUS majority upholds the executive order, it creates a tiered caste system where citizenship is passed down by bloodline and legal vetting rather than geography. While the order currently targets babies s born after February 2025, the racist rhetoric behind it puts a question mark over any first-generation American.

If this administration had its way decades ago, superstars like Timothy Weah or Folarin Balogun—born in Brooklyn to immigrant parents—might have been classified as temporary residents or undocumented immigrants instead of US citizens. 

Immigrants scored the goals for the US against Paraguay. After a player from Parguay inadvertently scored a goal for the US, Balogun scored the next two goals against Paraguay. Reina from the UK scored the fourth goal.

Likewise, a reversal on birthright citizenship would disproportionately impact the AANHPI communities by stripping US citizenship from children born to temporary visa holders (like high-skilled work and student visas) and undocumented immigrants. This would create a stateless, second-class underclass and erode long-term AANHPI political power.

It’s a bitter irony. These men are playing for American glory on the pitch, while the government representing them is fighting in the courts to bar people just like them from ever calling America home.

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