‘Our fans are feeling in fear': One year out from the World Cup, Mexico supporters are avoiding matches due to ICE concerns

CNN

4 hours ago

When the Mexico men's national soccer team comes to Los Angeles, you tend to know about it.
In March, when Javier Aguirre's team beat Panama 2-1, 68,212 people packed the stands at SoFi Stadium. Before June 14, the average attendance across the three games that El Tri had played in Inglewood in the last year was 63,760.
'We fill every single stadium because we want to feel closer to Mexico,' says Paco Rubén, founder and coordinator of US-based Mexico national team supporters' group Cielito Lindo, in an interview with CNN Sports. 'It doesn't matter if you're documented or not, we just want to feel that we're in Mexico for a day and live that party.'
That all changed on June 14.
Amid the backdrop of the Trump administration's federal immigration sweeps – and the resulting protests in LA and across the US – only 54,309 were at SoFi for Mexico's 3-2 victory over the Dominican Republic in the CONCACAF Gold Cup, almost 10,000 fewer than Mexico's average at SoFi over the last 12 months.
The attendance was just 4,000 more than the record low at SoFi for El Tri, which came against Canada on a Thursday evening in March when the team had not won back-to-back games for nearly two years.
Hours before the game on June 14, tickets that had cost an average of $75 at the box office were being sold on resale sites for less than $30, according to ESPN.
'The experience was completely different from what a normal national team game is like,' Luis Espinosa, founder and director of fan channel Sigo al Tri, tells CNN Sports. 'In the stands, it was a bit of a cold atmosphere.'
One of those missing from the stadium was Rubén who, along with the entirety of Cielito Lindo, decided not to attend the match out of solidarity with those affected by the immigration sweeps in LA.
'We all saw the images of what happened a week or two weeks prior to that game, and it just didn't feel like our place was on the field at that moment,' he explains.
'It didn't feel like our place was in the stadium when most of our people – literally most of our members of the movement Cielito Lindo – were either going to be at the protest, or were going to be at home, clearly in fear, just protecting their family.'
Rubén and the group did not make the decision lightly.
'I plan everything around the national team schedule,' he says. 'I can't imagine going to a wedding or to a family birthday party or to a family gathering without checking the calendar first and saying like 'Hey, you know what? Mexico plays that day. I can't go to your wedding.' My friends know I'm not lying when I say that.'
The decision was also taken by Cielito Lindo – as well as the team's two other principal US-based supporters' groups, Pancho Villa's Army and Patrones de México – to cancel the pregame tailgate parties that are usually such a fixture ahead of Mexico matches.
'For us, (the pregame festivities) are the best time for us to share with our friends and to be able to give that experience to the people,' says Cielito Lindo co-coordinator Livette Ruvalcaba in an interview with CNN Sport.
'Being outside of Mexico, it's already hard enough. So that day is specifically the day we feel the most Mexican, you know? It's a time when families bring their kids, and we want to give that experience to the kids as well.
'Our soccer heart wanted to be there,' she adds. 'So it was just really hard to make the decision. We've been going to support the national team for many years, ever since I was a little girl. Now, as an actual group, it's been over 10 years non-stop that we've been going.
'But it was just really hard for us not to be all together there.'
With concerns growing in some circles ahead of Saturday's Gold Cup game that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents might be present at SoFi, for many the decision not to attend was borne not only out of solidarity, but of genuine fears over their own safety and potential future in the US.
Those fears were not allayed when US Customs and Border Protection, in a post to social media which has since been deleted, promised to be 'suited and booted' for the first round of the FIFA Club World Cup, which also kicked off in the US on June 14 and features two Mexican teams.
The day before the game against the Dominican Republic, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum called on US authorities not to carry out immigration enforcement targeting those in attendance.
CNN has reached out to ICE for comment on whether its agents have been or will be present at any matches during this year's CONCACAF Gold Cup or FIFA Club World Cup.
Reports suggest that the security presence at SoFi on June 14 was normal.
'There were patrol cars and police there keeping watch, but nothing happened like we or other people expected, which was something a bit more violent,' says Espinosa.
But it was too late for those who had decided not to attend, many of whom, Rubén says, are still afraid of going about their daily lives and attending upcoming soccer matches.
'Our fans are feeling in fear. Our group members are feeling in fear,' he says. 'Especially because, even if you are documented, the videos we are seeing, it doesn't seem that they're asking anybody if they're documented or not.'
Those fears may well have deepened on Thursday when federal agents arrived just outside the parking lot at Dodger Stadium before an MLB game between LA and the San Diego Padres. The Dodgers claimed that they had denied ICE agents entry to the grounds, while the Department for Homeland Security claimed that the agents were not from ICE and that their presence was not related to any operation or enforcement.
But, according to Rubén, concerns that ICE may target those in attendance at sports events have been brewing long before the events of the last few weeks.
'For the Gold Cup final (in 2023) at SoFi, Mexico versus Panama, Cielito Lindo sold 800 tickets – that means two sections of the stadium together,' he explains. 'For the final of the Nations League, which happened in March (this year) – but there was already all these rumors about the new administration changes and stuff like that – we only sold 50.'
On that occasion, Rubén says, one family which normally buys at least 50 tickets bought just 11, telling Rubén that 'only the documented people are going to be able to go.'
'This was in March, when we didn't see any of the craziness that we've been seeing in the last two weeks. People were already in fear,' says Rubén.
Many fans have felt let down by the reaction of the team's manager. When asked to comment on the situation in the buildup to the June 14 game, Aguirre – who was born in Mexico City – replied: 'I'm not a spokesperson for Mexicans. I'm the coach of the Mexican national team.'
For Cielito Lindo, it was the final nail in the coffin.
'His words were literally what triggered us to make the final decision of not going because we didn't feel backed up,' Ruvalcaba tells CNN Sports.
'We've always been there,' she continues. 'We do everything to be there and support the team and try our best to pass this on to other people. And hearing those words from him literally broke our hearts because we didn't feel supported.
'I just wanted to cry, honestly,' she adds. 'We were not asking for anything more than empathy.'
Aguirre was slightly more forthcoming following the game against the Dominican Republic, but still declined to make a statement on the situation in the US.
'The best way to support them is to give them more than just victory, an effort. People identify with their flag, with their anthem, with their players who give it their all. That's what concerns us,' he said.
'We are football professionals, and it's the best way to represent our fellow countrymen in this moment – a complicated moment. We have to do our part on the field.'
But, with Mexican soccer entering one of the biggest years in its history and President Donald Trump's immigration agenda remaining difficult to predict, it seems unlikely that this discussion will simply go away.
The June 14 game against the Dominican Republic was the first in Mexico's efforts to defend the Gold Cup title it won in 2023. The win, coupled with a second victory over Suriname on Wednesday night, means that Mexico has already qualified for the quarterfinals.
But Cielito Lindo will not be there to see whether the team can retain the crown, having taken the decision on Tuesday night not to attend any of the remaining Gold Cup fixtures.
'We were going to be in (Las) Vegas this weekend, and then we were going to be in Phoenix next weekend, and we were going to be in Texas for the final. So we already had flight reservations, hotel reservations, party reservations, you name it,' says Rubén.
'But it definitely wouldn't feel right leaving our friends and family behind, knowing that they couldn't be there. We have really close friends in particular that were going to be at this game in Vegas with us, and they were just like, 'I can't even go out of my house right now.''
The absence of one of the national team's three largest US-based supporters' groups could indicate the start of a worrying period for Mexican soccer ahead of a busy stateside schedule.
Alongside the national team's efforts, CF Monterrey and CF Pachuca are both currently representing the nation against some of the biggest teams on the planet in the inaugural FIFA Club World Cup.
Looming even larger is the 2026 World Cup, which Mexico will host for the first time since 1986, alongside the US and Canada.
With less than a year until the first game kicks off at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, fans are concerned that further raids could overshadow what is meant to be a joyous occasion.
'We hope this is something that's very short and we can move on from it and just go ahead and celebrate because we are a very happy people,' Sigo al Tri member Rafael Baqueiro tells CNN Sports. 'We hope we can move on from this and keep going towards the World Cup. Mexico needs that push and that the fans be present.'
Espinosa is in agreement. 'The fear that our compatriots carry in terms of different situations regarding documentation or legality in the United States is noticeable, and it's something that unfortunately could occur in upcoming games or even in the next World Cup,' he says.
'We wish with all our strength that there is no violence. Don't endanger the integrity of our compatriots, nor our friends that we have there (in the US).'