{"id":468,"date":"2026-06-09T17:38:34","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T17:38:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=468"},"modified":"2026-06-09T17:38:34","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T17:38:34","slug":"us-denies-entry-to-africas-referee-of-the-year-ahead-of-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=468","title":{"rendered":"US Denies Entry to Africa\u2019s Referee of the Year Ahead of World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A World Cup<\/span> referee from Somalia confirmed on Tuesday that US border patrol officials denied him entry into the country.<\/p>

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\u201cI am very, very disappointed,\u201d Omar Abdulkadir Artan, chosen in April for the upcoming FIFA Men\u2019s World Cup, told the New York Times<\/em>. \u201cI\u2019m just simply a referee who\u2019s trying to live his dream, the biggest dream of my life, to come to the World Cup.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Artan added that he \u201chad the right papers\u201d and \u201cthe right visa.\u201d According to the Associated Press, the Somalia embassy in Kenya said it processed his travel visa to the US last week.<\/p>\n

US border officials said on Monday that Artan would not take part in the soccer tournament. Artan would have been the first Somali referee to officiate a World Cup game and was named the men\u2019s referee of the year by Africa\u2019s soccer federation in 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to a statement from the US Customs and Border Protection, Artan flew to Miami International Airport from Istanbul International Airport on Saturday. CBP inspected him \u201cto verify information or determine admissibility\u201d and was denied entry \u201cdue to vetting concerns.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>

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The federal agency did not disclose what specific \u201cvetting concerns\u201d it found.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Artan told the New York Times<\/em> that his immigration interview lasted for 11 hours. Afterward, he was put in a holding cell for several hours before being forced on a flight back to Istanbul.<\/p>\n

Last June, the White House labeled Somalia as \u201ca terrorist safe haven\u201d with a government that \u201clacks command and control of its territory.\u201d President Donald Trump has repeatedly hurled abuse at Somali immigrants, calling them \u201cgarbage\u201d last December and using fraud cases in Minnesota involving them to justify cuts to social services like child care and the massive ICE raids in the state.<\/p>\n

According to the Council on Foreign Relations, an American foreign policy and international relations nonprofit, the US gave 3,196 visas to travelers from Somalia between May 2024 and April 2025. In January 2025, Trump fully restricted people from Somalia from entering the US, noting national security and public safety concerns over \u201cforeign terrorists.\u201d<\/p>\n

The CBP preventing Artan from refereeing at the World Cup is just one story in a series of US visa denials of national team players, staff, and other sports officials from making it to the tournament. As I wrote last week, according to Iran\u2019s football federation chief, the players had not yet received their US visas. Since then, all of Iran\u2019s players have received visas, but more than a dozen staff members\u2014which can include coaches, medical professionals, and trainers\u2014were rejected.<\/p>

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The CBP said they denied Omar Abdulkadir Artan entry \u201cdue to vetting concerns.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":466,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-468","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nUS Denies Entry to Africa\u2019s Referee of the Year Ahead of World Cup - Moving and Mortgage Hub<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=468\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"US Denies Entry to Africa\u2019s Referee of the Year Ahead of World Cup - Moving and Mortgage Hub\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The CBP said they denied Omar Abdulkadir Artan entry \u201cdue to vetting concerns.\u201d\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=468\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Moving and Mortgage Hub\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-09T17:38:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/ae3db2549ac6246be52ad8f0b6320465-1024x576.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"576\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/?p=468#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/?p=468\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6b7c79bcfd888d98f34c5413df7e81a2\"},\"headline\":\"US Denies Entry to Africa\u2019s Referee of the Year Ahead of World Cup\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-09T17:38:34+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/?p=468\"},\"wordCount\":482,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/?p=468#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/5a600feb3fa18bbd69ae4c89b362bbb3.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Politics\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/?p=468#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/?p=468\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/?p=468\",\"name\":\"US Denies Entry to Africa\u2019s Referee of the Year Ahead of World Cup - 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