Mexico fans fear World Cup is perfect trap for ICE | Football | Sport
Wearing a green-patterned Mexico football shirt, El Paso native Paula walked across the US border to work at a US hotel, smiling proudly. An American citizen by birth, she now lives in Ciudad Juárez on the other side of Donald Trump’s ‘Great Wall’, a move that lets her “earn dollars and spend pesos.”
She, like many American residents of Ciudad Juárez, faces a dilemma at the start of the World Cup 2026 when Mexico plays South Africa: does she stay south of the border to watch the game amidst the fireworks and fiestas or head north to watch in an El Paso bar?
Unlike previous years, the option to watch the game on a big screen with a huge crowd in the sizzling Texas sun isn’t available for the historic clash. This is a result, she suspects, of Immigration and Customs Enforcement [ICE] using such occasions to flush out illegal migrants and detain them.
Also aware of talk of ICE targeting the games was dad-of-one Isaac; however, he was less sure border-related tension would impact the watch parties. The Express found him stopping off to buy more Mexico shirts so more of the family could wear El Tri colours when the game kicks off.
His story was the inverse of Paula’s; he was born in Juarez but now lives on the US side in El Paso. Normally, he would go out to watch the game in the city centre, but given his wife is expecting their second child, a night out watching the football isn’t on the cards.
But the atmosphere, he expects, will be electric.
“It’s like being in the stadium with the crowd. Mexicans treat it like a holiday. The weekend will begin tomorrow [Thursday] and keep going.”
Asked to explain how the border-city dynamic plays out when the football is on, his answer is simple: “It just becomes one big city.”
For that one city, there is no doubt where allegiances lie.
While there are plenty of locals walking South El Paso Street wearing Stetson cowboy hats and displaying American flags, the mannequins in the clothing shops lining the road leading out from the border crossing are nearly all wearing Mexican shirts.
Another El Paso native, Alex, who had popped into one of the stores to buy a jersey for his son ahead of the big game, was planning a Mexican ritual in his US home—though given it involved a “hot grill” and “cold beers,” most people on either side of the border could appreciate it.
“Expect a sea of green,” he told us ahead of the game. “Lots of people will cross the bridge to watch the game with family.”
There might be a black steel wall manned by scores of border agents that divides El Paso and Ciudad Juárez, but when Mexico kicks off against South Africa, it will all be one city.
