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The World Cup of Racism

The Trump administration has a message for every soccer fan on the planet: The US government is unapologetically bigoted.

We are a third of the way into the 2026 World Cup, and the unequivocal message that the Trump administration is transmitting is that the US government is an openly racist entity. The United States refused entry to Somali referee Omar Abdulkadir Artan, subjecting him to an 11-hour interrogation before ejecting him from the country. In an act of performative security theater, players and staff from Uzbekistan were met with drug-sniffing dogs and metal detectors upon arrival. US Customs and Border Patrol also detained Iraqi soccer star Aymen Hussein at O’Hare airport and questioned him for seven hours before allowing him into the country. Then there’s the Trump administration’s preposterous treatment of Iran, whose soccer team the United States has forced to stay in Mexico even though all its group-stage matches are in the United States. In response, the team’s coach, Amir Ghalenoei, stated, “Our team is the most oppressed one in the whole World Cup.”

Enter the Department of Homeland Security, which made two racist posts on X. In one, DHS features the catchphrases, “DEFEND THE HOMELAND” and “ONE NATION. ONE HOMELAND. ONE TEAM.” If that sounds like something a Nazi might write, it’s because it is. The phrasing echoes the “One People, One Realm, One Leader” slogan that Nazis used during World War II: “Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Führer.”

OUR SOIL. 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/au68JeEz2q— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) June 19, 2026

OUR SOIL. 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/au68JeEz2q

The apparent Nazi homage is superimposed over the images of three US players celebrating in front of a stadium full of jubilant fans. Turns out, those three players—Folarin Balogun, Chris Richards, and Sergiño Dest—are curious choices. Balogun was born in the United States to Nigerian parents living in London who were visiting New York. He has birthright citizenship under the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, something Trump has targeted for elimination through executive order. Chris Richards has tattoos honoring Muhammad Ali, Tommie Smith, John Carlos, and Martin Luther King Jr., and has exalted the importance of Juneteenth. Sergiño Dest was born in the Netherlands to a Dutch mother and a father who is Surinamese American, and became a naturalized US citizen.

The second offensive post is meant to honor the US Men’s National Team’s 2–0 win over Australia. It featured the team posing in the classic two-row, pre-match formation while behind them DHS photoshopped the rust-colored US-Mexico border wall between the team and the goal. The text reads, “TOTAL DOMINATION” and “Nothing is getting past Team USA,” with the words “BUILT THE WALL” beneath the team. (The tweet disappeared by........

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