Charlotte advocacy groups urge officials to bar ICE from a high-profile soccer match, warning enforcement could endanger fans and harm the event’s benefits.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. โ A coalition of Charlotte-area advocacy organizations is calling on Bank of America, FIFA, Tepper Sports, and local law enforcement to bar immigration agents from a high-profile soccer match scheduled for May 31 at Bank of America Stadium, warning that enforcement activity could endanger fans and dampen the event’s economic benefits.
The groups โ Action NC, Carolina Migrant Network, Jewish Voice for Peace CLT, Charlotte Metro Democratic Socialists of America and Charlotte Housing Justice Coalition โ issued a joint statement Monday urging the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department and other agencies to refuse collaboration with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers at the Allstate Continental Clรกsico, a U.S. Men’s National Team friendly ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
“Soccer should bring communities together, not force families to choose between celebrating the game they love and fearing immigration enforcement,” a representative from Carolina Migrant Network said.
The match is one of the USMNT’s final tune-ups before the World Cup, which runs June 11 through July 19 across 11 U.S. cities and is expected to draw as many as 10 million visitors, making it the largest sporting event in history.
Charlotte is among the host cities, and Tepper Sports described 2026 as “the biggest summer of soccer in the history of this country,” touting the tournament’s potential to strengthen the city’s profile as a premier destination and drive local economic impact.
But the coalition argues ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection presence at games could undermine those projections. The groups pointed to a February statement in which ICE said its agents would play a “key part” in World Cup security, a declaration that came days after an ICE agent fatally shot Nicole Good in Minneapolis.
More than 120 civil society organizations have since issued a travel advisory warning that World Cup attendees “could be at risk of serious rights violations,” including arbitrary detention, invasive device searches, racial profiling and suppression of protest.
The Charlotte coalition also cited DHS data showing that more than 66% of individuals arrested during Operation Charlotte’s Web had no violent criminal record.
“As a result of immigration officials terrorizing our community this past year, people are afraid to leave their homes and many local businesses lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in sales,” a representative from Action NC said. “Immigration enforcement at the game will jeopardize any gains and only serve to further divide our community.”
The Charlotte Housing Justice Coalition tied its opposition to broader concerns about the immigration detention system.ย
“Deportations are directly fueling private detention facilities and the profit-driven industries that also drive displacement,” the group said.
The coalition is specifically asking CMPD and other law enforcement agencies to commit to non-collaboration with immigration agents at FIFA-related events publicly, and is urging local government to establish immigration enforcement-free zones around the match and related activities.
WCNC Charlotte has reached out to city and county officials, CMPD, Tepper Sports Entertainment and the Department of Homeland Security for comment.
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