The US Secretary of Homeland Security has defended the decision to deny entry to a Somali referee selected for the World Cup, dismissing global criticism of the move as he insisted the case involved unspecified “criminal ties” rather than discrimination against Somalia.
Omar Artan, named Africa’s best referee in 2025 and selected as the sole referee from Somalia for the tournament, was turned away by US Customs and Border Protection at Miami International Airport on Saturday after arriving on a flight from Istanbul. CBP said he had been “determined to be inadmissible due to vetting concerns and was denied entry,” following additional inspection that the agency described as routine.
A Trump administration official told CBS News and NBC News that Artan had been refused entry based on “derogatory information” that included “association with suspected members of terror organisations.” The New York Times reported that the case appeared to stem from Artan sharing a similar name to an individual linked to the Al Shabaab extremist group on the US Office of Foreign Assets Control’s sanctions list. Artan said he was questioned for hours. “They asked me several times if I had ever met representatives of Al Shabab,” he said. “I explained to them I knew nothing about this military group, that I was only in the United States to do my job as a referee.” No evidence has been presented publicly linking Artan to terrorism, and FIFA confirmed he holds no such record with the organisation.
Speaking on Thursday, the day the tournament began with a match in Mexico City, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin rejected the backlash. “We’re not going to allow people that are perceived to have criminal ties to come into this country,” he said. “I don’t care what your situation is. I’m not going to get into why we denied this individual but there is a reason why this person was denied. Now the left media wants to go out there and report this guy is a victim because we are anti-Somalia. No, we’re not. We work closely with FIFA and the administration on a regular basis. We talk to FIFA and their directors constantly. Anybody that was denied, we made the case for and showed them why they were denied.”
Mullin pointed to Iran’s participation in the tournament as evidence that decisions were being made on individual merit rather than blanket policy. “Iran chose a difficult path — if there was any country we weren’t going to allow in here, Iran would probably be the reason why, but we did,” he said. “We worked closely with the individuals, with restrictions. There were more than just these two, there were multiple individuals. We have a World Cup here, we have got a lot of countries that don’t exactly have access to the United States and we did a phenomenal job on getting as many people cleared as we could. But some people, you couldn’t clear. And that’s the way it works with getting a visa to come into this great country.” Iran’s team is based in Mexico and will fly into the US only on match days for its fixtures against New Zealand, Belgium and Egypt.
A photographer for the Iraq team was also denied entry, while star player Aymen Hussein was detained before eventually being permitted entry. Fans and journalists from Iran, Haiti, Ivory Coast, Senegal and several other countries were also refused permission to travel to the US for the tournament, which is being held across the United States, Mexico and Canada.
FIFA said in a statement: “FIFA is not involved in host country immigration processes, including visa adjudications, and has been informed by authorities that Mr Artan’s status will not be changed at present. In line with previous FIFA events, a host government ultimately determines who receives a visa and who is admitted into their country.”
Artan, 34, returned home to Mogadishu on Wednesday to a hero’s welcome, with government officials greeting him at the airport with flowers and thousands gathering to celebrate him. He was hoisted onto the shoulders of supporters draped in the Somali flag. “What happened has happened and it was fate,” he told supporters, adding: “I will attend the next World Cup. We should strive for our country and defend it. We should never be disappointed. I love my country, and I encourage young people to continue pursuing their goals.”
