When FIFA announced in 2018 that the U.S. had been selected to host the 2026 World Cup, President Donald Trump offered a characteristically bombastic prediction: The soccer championship, cohosted by Canada and Mexico, would be "maybe the biggest sporting event in the world." But now, with just one year to go, observers are raising red flags about Trump's militarized anti-immigration efforts and their potential effect on the thousands of international travelers expected to visit.

'Planning within uncertainty'
It's "hard to imagine" what the U.S. will look like by the time the World Cup games take place, said Brian Phillips at The Ringer. The Trump administration's project of "refashioning American culture around isolationist and xenophobic impulses" runs "directly counter to the project of the World Cup." Because of that, "we recognize that we' are planning within uncertainty," said Meg Kane, a Philadelphia host city executive, to The Athletic.

FIFA's 2025 Club World Cup, considered a "dress rehearsal for the big event," begins on Saturday in Florida, said The Associated Press. But reports of foreign visitors detained by immigration authorities, ICE raids and protests, and a revamped travel ban "aren't exactly reassuring international fans." 

Customs and Border Protection will have operatives "suited and booted" for the games, the agency said in a since-deleted post on X. And the possibility of agents on site will "inflame an already tense situation," said the Los Angeles Times. 

Typically, soccer fans "go all out" for "once-in-a-lifetime trips" to the World Cup, said The New York Times. But those trips "might already be doomed" thanks to excessive visa wait times. Additionally, "tough immigration policies" have made hiring specialized staff usually tapped for complex multi-stage events like the World Cup games "harder than usual."

'The world doesn't stop'
Organizers of the upcoming games are both acknowledging the complicated circumstances and projecting confidence that the games will nevertheless live up to the championships' lofty reputation. "Our goal is to make sure everyone who comes" has an "incredible time," said Alex Lasry, the New York-New Jersey host committee CEO, to Reuters. "The world doesn't stop for these sporting events." 

Conversations about immigration policy and potential pitfalls are happening among the "right people at the federal level, at the FIFA level," said Mike Loynd, the president of the Boston host city committee, to The Guardian. The "intent" is to "welcome the world."

One of the country's most influential religious organizations, the Southern Baptist Convention, wrapped up its annual convention yesterday by voting on several resolutions revolving around issues at the heart of American law. The measures could put pressure on many politicians, particularly on the Christian right. The SBC is the largest Protestant denomination in the U.S., with nearly 13 million members in 2024, making it a powerful lobbying force. 

What happened at the meeting?
During the Dallas convention, the SBC decided to ban sports betting and pornography, but a vote to prohibit women pastors failed. These resolutions call on politicians to establish laws accordingly. The most consequential was a ballot "supporting a concerted effort to reverse Obergefell v. Hodges as the historic U.S. Supreme Court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage approaches its 10-year anniversary," said USA Today. 

That resolution, which passed without debate, says that politicians should "pass laws that reflect the truth of creation and natural law — about marriage, sex, human life and family." It also says the country should recognize the "biological reality of male and female," among other phrasing related to gender identity. Notably, it doesn't "use the word 'ban,' but it left no room for legal same-sex marriage," said The Associated Press. 

What happens next?
While the SBC's ballots are nonbinding policy suggestions, they could go a long way toward influencing politicians. The "convention has long been a conservative trendsetter of national religious ideology and politics," said the Houston Chronicle. A pair of SBC pastors "joined fellow conservative pastors to pray over President Donald Trump in recent months at the White House."

The SBC has made it clear that evangelicals have "long-term ambitions to dismantle an institution that many Americans now accept as a basic right," said The New York Times. The SBC's resolutions are looking to the effort that "overturned the right to legal abortions as a possible blueprint for the new fight," say many analysts. 

There's a "confidence" that Trump will "have their backs," said Kristin Du Mez, a Calvin University history professor with a focus on religion and politics, to the BBC. The SBC senses there "may be a window opening" and thinks this is the "right time to press this issue."