Vice-President JD Vance threatened to deport visitors from around the world who would be coming to the United States for the 2026 World Cup, if they do not leave immediately after the games end.
The FIFA World Cup is scheduled to kick off in June of 2026, with games played in 16 cities across Canada, Mexico and the United States.
While Vance acknowledged the potential boom in tourism that comes with the event, he warned visitors not to overstay their welcome.
“We’ll have visitors from close to 100 countries,” Vance said during a press conference with Donald Trump’s World Cup planning task force. “We want them to come, we want them to celebrate, we want them to watch the games.”
“But when the time is up, they’ll have to go home, otherwise they will have to talk to Secretary Noem,” he continued, referring to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy echoed Vance’s comments later in the meeting saying, “don’t overstay your visa. Don’t stay too long.”
International travel to the United States has declined since Trump took office in January and implemented his hardline immigration policies. These policies have resulted in some international travelers being detained by ICE at airports and sent to detention centers often due to minor visa issues or misunderstandings.
Social media users noted Tuesday that Vance’s comments were not helping.
“Quite a way to motivate foreign tourists,” Wall Street Journal chief foreign affairs correspondent Yaroslav Trofimov posted to X.
“These people are going to ruin international tourism in this country for at least a decade or more,” another X user wrote.
“They’ve somehow managed to turn an international celebration into a threatening deportation PSA,” said another.
“Tourism just took another 25% hit,” added another.
One social media user predicted that, “US about to set the record for worst World Cup attendance in World Cup history.”
Former MSNBC host Keith Olbermann predicted that FIFA will pull the World Cup games from the U.S.
“Relax on Vance’s insane threat to jail international World Cup ticket holders if they don’t leave the country immediately rather than stay here and spend tourism money,” Olbermann wrote on X. “Watch. FIFA will be moving the World Cup elsewhere.”
