He Super Bowl 2026 expects the presence of thousands of spectators, many of them migrants that will approach Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Californiato enjoy the NFL final between New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks. In this context, the presence of federal agentsand in particular of officials of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICEfor its acronym in English), threatens the possibility of operations.
According to what ICE indicates in its websitefederal agents in these types of events are in charge of tasks such as disarm terrorist operations, find cases of human traffickingguarantee the cybersecurity and enforce the laws against product counterfeiting.
Although formally the objective is not to carry out immigration law enforcement operations, nothing prevents the foreigners are approached by the authorities for other reasonssuch as consulting the corresponding documentation.
Although the organization of the event is led by the state in charge, in this case California, federal forces are deployed as a form of support. According to a document from DHS, The NFL final has a Special Event Assessment Rating (SEAR) rating.
Los SEAR events are those that have some degree of federal supportwith different ranges of importance. The Operations Coordination Office (OPS) is responsible for carrying out a risk assessment and determining the required deployment.
In this case, the Super Bowl is considered a SEAR level 1the highest within the scale. This level is applied for events with “national or international importance that require extensive federal interagency support“.
Although It has not yet been specifically revealed which will be the participating entities. of the operation, migrants can take reference from other editions of the Super Bowl to know what to expect. In the final played in 2021members of the ICEthe Coast Guardhe Secret service and the Customs and Border Protection (CBPfor its acronym in English), among others.
Those who attend the NFL final They must take this information into account to avoid problems with the immigration agency.
In that sense, the North Suburban Legal Aid Clinic organization prepared a guide in which he details what are the options:
For foreigners who have legal status
For immigrants without regular status
For the case of the irregular migrantsexperts clarify that they should have on hand any documentation proving two years of residence in the US.
Furthermore, they explain that These measures do not guarantee avoiding eventual deportation.but they will give the foreigner more possibilities and time to present their case.
