US Immigration Police (ICE) will not be deployed around Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, for the Super Bowl game on Sunday, NFL security chief Cathy Lanier said Tuesday.
“There are no planned ICE or immigration enforcement operations around the Super Bowl or other events for fans attending the Super Bowl this week,” Ms.me Lanier at a press conference in San Francisco.
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The official added that security measures surrounding the final of the American Football Championship, the largest annual sporting event in the United States, were similar to those in previous years and that there was “no known, specific or credible threat” against this match which will pit the Seattle Seahawks against the New England Patriots.
The NFL, underlined Mme Lanier, has been cooperating for 20 years to secure the Super Bowl with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) which “brings together more than 20 different services, [mais] This does not include ICE.”
Corey Lewandowski, a close advisor within the DHS, however, assured in 2024 that ICE would be deployed for the Super Bowl.
Large numbers of immigration and border police have been deployed in recent months in several major American cities as part of President Trump’s aggressive policy against illegal immigration.
It is responsible for arresting and deporting illegal foreign nationals. However, legal immigrants have also been caught in its net. In Minneapolis, in the north, this punch operation provoked angry demonstrations while two people were killed by the police.
The US government’s anti-immigration policy is also causing concern over the safety of millions of foreign fans who will attend matches at the FIFA World Cup (June 11 – July 19), co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico.
“Millions of people from all over the world are expected here in the United States […]and they deserve, whatever their nationality, to be able to come without fear of being refouled, detained or expelled without due process,” the important American civil rights organization NAACP underlined in December.
