ROB SCHMITZ, HOST:
Fans and players will hear the first whistle at the FIFA World Cup on June 11. But given the Department of Homeland Security's more than two-month shutdown, many people are concerned about whether America's ready to host this event. Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen pressed DHS leadership during a Senate hearing last week.
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CHRIS VAN HOLLEN: There's still an open question as to whether or not all the FIFA World Cup players will be able to participate in U.S. matches.
SCHMITZ: And that's just one of several problems. Haiti has qualified for the World Cup for the first time in 50 years, but Haitians are barred from coming to America through a travel ban. Iran has also qualified. Will its players be allowed to come? Citizens from a number of other countries who qualified could have to pay a $15,000 bond to enter the U.S., and we haven't even started talking about ticket prices. Van Hollen said the concerns are not just coming from fans.
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HOLLEN: Even top officials with FIFA are concerned about the harmful impact ICE operations would have on the World Cup fan experience.
SCHMITZ: To better understand the state of all this, we called up Juliette Kayyem. She served at DHS under the Obama administration. She also works to help cities prepare for mega events like the World Cup. Juliette, welcome to ALL THINGS CONSIDERED.
JULIETTE KAYYEM: Thanks for having me.
SCHMITZ: So we are in the third month of what is now the longest partial government shutdown in history. It slowed the work that the government needs to do to prepare for the World Cup. What does this mean for fans and teams participating in the World Cup here on U.S. soil?
KAYYEM: Well, we still don't know yet, to be fair. But look, there's not like a - a sort of a federal FIFA preparedness apparatus. Each of these events is going to be taking part in one of 11 host U.S. cities over the course of almost six weeks - 78 matches in the United States. And each of those is governed by, you know, whatever the city has in place at this stage.
The federal government and the DHS overlay is to help those cities - because these are big events - manage, you know, federal assets, request information, intelligence. They may know help with drone excursions, which is sort of in the federal apparatus. So there are still some aspects in terms of preparedness planning. There are still going to be some gaps, and we just simply, right now, don't know how those are going to be filled.
SCHMITZ: So, I mean, you mentioned 11 host cities here in the United States. What are you hearing directly from officials in those cities?
KAYYEM: So I want to divide sort of their concerns into two different parts. So the first is just you're holding a big event, and there are risks out there.
SCHMITZ: Right.
KAYYEM: And those risks are going to be familiar to listeners - terror, weather, drones, cyber, crowd crush, crowd control - all the things you worry about when you bring a lot of people together.
I call this second group - I don't know what to call them. I call it the signs-of-our-time threats, and there's general hostility to the U.S. and the war and the way that the administration has embarked on its foreign policy with both our allies and enemies.
SCHMITZ: I hate to put you in this position, but I'm wondering if you've noticed, is there a city that is more ready than the other cities, like a model city?
KAYYEM: I won't say one is better than the other, but the one that everyone's looking at in terms of both its enthusiasm to hold it, its investments, including its safety and security investments, is Kansas City. It's - someone from FIFA told me it's sort of the sleeper city in this regard.
SCHMITZ: Does FIFA seem to be concerned about this?
KAYYEM: FIFA's public position is all systems go. And I have to admit, I've been in the mega event planning field long enough that the criticisms, the complaints, the crankiness that you're hearing now is very familiar. It happens before every Olympics. It happens before every Super Bowl. I think the thing I do hear that they are worried about is I think the gap between what they were hoping and the gap of what they're worried about. You have to remember, FIFA gave the games to North America. This is Canada, the United States and Mexico.
SCHMITZ: Right.
KAYYEM: It was a vision of North America that we can't even put your head around it now. It was this idea that these three countries as allies would unify, and you'd have sort of cross-border collaboration. Well, that's not happening. We know where the Trump administration is on that. And so now you sort of have, you know, sort of three different countries with their immigration and, you know, Mexico with its cartel violence. It's that unknown that they are worried about.
The administration can do a lot to placate those worries not just for FIFA, but also for citizens who - and the cities that are going to be hosting them. It's not just the games. These cities are hosting - at last count, I think there were 600 events related to the FIFA footprint in the United States alone this summer. And I think worries about immigration in particular and immigration enforcement are legitimate and aren't going to go away over the course of the summer.
SCHMITZ: I'm putting myself in the shoes of, you know, someone from Central America who wants to watch their team here on U.S. soil. They've seen what has happened in Minneapolis, in cities across the country. How are they going to feel when they get on a plane to come to either Kansas City or any of the host cities in the United States?
KAYYEM: People are making decisions about where they visit on what they feel their experience will be here in the United States. And that is one of hostility, one of fear, one of sort of the unknown. You could just be walking down the street and then you're deported or - that would be good - or you're detained for some period of time.
But, you know, look, we've built our unwelcome mat for a while now. And we have seen these numbers plummeting about who wants to come to the U.S. either because they don't like our politics right now, or they are legitimately nervous about the experience of either going through an airport or in the interior. And I don't - there are fans who will overcome those fears, but there are many who might decide, this is the World Cup we're going to sit out.
SCHMITZ: And you know, we haven't even talked about yet the citizens from a number of countries who are not even allowed to enter America. You know, FIFA has a special visa program called the FIFA PASS, you know, but a lot of fans are worried that they're not going to be able to come. How valid are their concerns?
KAYYEM: Those are valid 'cause the travel rules and prohibitions or the price structure still exists. There is no exception for a fan. There's even often no exception for a family member. The coaches and athletes are exempted from those bans. Those prohibitions are inconsistent with the spirit, if not the letter of what it meant to want to be the host country. And that is something that the United States can't defend. I mean, we told FIFA we wanted to host these events, and that comes with an obligation that our politics or our immigration rules will not hinder those fans.
SCHMITZ: So in some, you know, we're going to see the teams from Haiti and Iran maybe come to the United States, but we will not see their fans.
KAYYEM: Exactly. The prohibited countries - their fans do not have an exception.
SCHMITZ: So we've been talking a lot about geopolitics right now, but the soccer community here has been looking forward to this summer as a moment to - you know, to raise awareness of the game. You know, for a long time, America's been seen as the final frontier for soccer. You know, FIFA may or may not have seen these challenges coming, but do you think this is a good time for global expansion here in the U.S., given all of these challenges?
KAYYEM: I think it is, and I'm excited about it. I guess I have to be 'cause I love these events. But there is something about the event and the global nature of the event and these countries that we barely know bringing their teams and the competition that actually unifies. I'm cautiously optimistic that a lot of these issues will get resolved, but we will always have the background noise of our times, which is the United States has not thrown out a welcome mat to the world. And as far as we can tell now, not much will change before the World Cup.
SCHMITZ: So before we let you go, I wanted to tap into your experience at the DHS under the Obama administration. We've got a shutdown, and it's having a wide impact on DHS, not just, you know, about its role in the World Cup. What is the long-term impact of a continued stalemate in Congress over this?
KAYYEM: I think the longest-term impact is going to be personnel. Why would you work at a place in which you don't get paid on a regular basis? We're going to feel it in terms of the preparation and the planning that DHS is responsible for, for not just mega events but for hurricanes, and we have threats from Iran and China. I mean, we are a country that will continue to have risks, and the apparatus - the professional apparatus is dissipating because of these debates.
And the hard thing about measuring it is we won't miss it until we need it. Right now, you know, yes, I can get through my airport lines. And yes, everything seems fine. But when the hurricane comes or the terror attack comes, you're going to wish that we had been more prepared. So we may not know it until we want it.
SCHMITZ: That's Juliette Kayyem. She was the assistant secretary for Intergovernmental Affairs at DHS under the Obama administration. Thank you.
KAYYEM: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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