A sense of being targeted is palpable across the United States, in Mexican American communities from Los Angeles to El Paso and among U.S. Latinos interviewed in Mexico City.<\/p>\n
![\"Despite](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1783776099_614_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Despite Mexico\u2019s loss in its knockout round match with England on Sunday, a Mexico fan cheers in downtown Santa Ana.<\/p>\n
(Ronaldo Bola\u00f1os \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n
Even so, as Mexico advanced through the tournament, an indicator of national pride emerged: record-setting sales of FIFA Mexico jerseys. More than 5 million were sold \u2014 half of them in the United States. <\/p>\n
\u201cPutting on the Mexican jersey this time took on a different meaning,\u201d said Leny Hernandez, 32, a businessman and former combat soldier, after Mexico\u2019s elimination from the tournament. \u201cI don\u2019t see this as a defeat, but as a victory. I still believe in the dream.\u201d<\/p>\n
While demographic data don\u2019t pinpoint how many Latinos or Mexican Americans travel annually to Mexico, the travel site Road Genius said almost 5 million of the 48 million foreign travelers visited the country in December, which is traditionally when Mexican Americans return for religious celebrations and vacation. <\/p>\n
For decades, the Mexican government has tried building bridges, a soft-power initiative known as acercamiento \u2014 or coming together \u2014 with its rising global diaspora. It\u2019s had some success. But what makes this latest bonding so compelling is that it wasn\u2019t designed by the government.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the result of an organic movement that saw immigrants and their offspring reaching across the border in greater numbers, searching, some said, for acceptance. <\/p>\n
The World Cup was the lightning rod, said Carlos Gonz\u00e1lez Guti\u00e9rrez, the Mexican consul general in Los Angeles. Gonz\u00e1lez has witnessed the ties between Mexico and its emigrants abroad evolve over four decades, starting as a young consular officer in the administration of Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari. <\/p>\n
A sense of urgency ![\"Mexico](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1783776099_768_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Mexico fans ask for a card after a foul is committed during a World Cup watch party in Santa Ana.<\/p>\n
(Ronaldo Bola\u00f1os \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat makes this acercamiento today so interesting is that it\u2019s more mainstream, with younger people,\u201d Gonz\u00e1lez said, pointing to a sense of urgency as a key difference.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe exciting part is that this generation is not about wiping the slate clean, but about beginning a new slate,\u201d he said. \u201cThey don\u2019t have the same mistrust and resentment that their parents and ancestors carry against the country that was unable to keep them from migrating north.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since the World Cup kicked off in Mexico City on June 11, Mexican Americans have flocked to fan gatherings throughout the country and trekked to the so-called Cathedral of Soccer, El Estadio Azteca, in Mexico City. <\/p>\n
In Los Angeles, the consulate sponsored watch parties at Casa M\u00e9xico Los Angeles in the city\u2019s downtown; the Mexico-Ecuador match, which Mexico won<\/a>, drew 3,000 fans. <\/p>\n Going into the match, images of Immigration and Customs Enforcement swarming neighborhoods, Home Depot parking lots and car washes were fresh on the minds of many. <\/p>\n Far from being the criminals the Trump administration insists it is targeting, the majority<\/a> of people detained are everyday workers without criminal convictions, according to figures analyzed by TRAC,<\/a> a data research organization.<\/p>\n Scared, sad and vulnerable<\/p>\n The ICE roundup left emotional wounds that won\u2019t easily heal for many who described their parents and grandparents, including those living in the country legally, as feeling \u201cscared,\u201d \u201csad\u201d and \u201cvulnerable.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMany of us, our families have PTSD,\u201d said Daphne Amezcua, 21, a child development social worker at the Casa M\u00e9xico LA event. \u201cMom is still afraid to go out, and she has her papers in order.\u201d<\/p>\n Mexico reserve goalkeepers Guillermo Ochoa, left, and teammate Carlos Acevedo react following their World Cup round of 16 match against England in Mexico City.<\/p>\n (Natacha Pisarenko \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n Next to her was a colleague, Santiago Salazar, 22, clad in his black Mexican World Cup team jersey. \u201cIt\u2019s not lost on me that a year ago in June, our community [in Los Angeles] was under attack by ICE raids,\u201d he said. After a pause, he added, \u201cWhen one side rejects you, you look south, the land of your ancestors, to look for acceptance.\u201d<\/p>\n The beautiful game<\/p>\n Even in majority-Mexican American border cities such as El Paso, where ICE and U.S. Border Patrol agents have long blended in the community almost like a part of the landscape, some residents are on edge.<\/p>\n Thanks to soccer, often called the world\u2019s beautiful game, many found a needed distraction.<\/p>\n \u201cI haven\u2019t been to Mexico in a very long time, so being able to do this and supporting [the Mexican team] does make me feel a little closer to home,\u201d said Elizabeth Garcia, 46, who watched the Mexico-Ecuador match at a downtown park in El Paso. \u201cA lot has to do with political issues.\u201d<\/p>\n In Mexico City, Mexican Americans displayed their fan duality by draping themselves in both nation\u2019s flags and cheering for the U.S. when Mexico was not on the pitch. <\/p>\n Fans in Mexico City react to Mexico\u2019s loss to England in the knockout round. Team jerseys, like the green one the left, sold by the millions in both Mexico and the United States.<\/p>\n (Natacha Pisarenko \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n Underscoring their dual affinity: Two Mexican Americans played for the U.S. national team \u2014 one from Ciudad Ju\u00e1rez and another from El Paso \u2014 and two more played for the Mexican team.<\/p>\n \u201cI get chills,\u201d said Pamela Huebner, a bartender in Los Angeles. \u201cWe have players on both sides.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018Found something else\u2019<\/p>\n At Mexico\u2019s first tournament game in Mexico City, Alejandro Rodriguez, who had traveled from Houston, sang his lungs out to the immortal, thunderous song \u201cEl Rey\u201d \u2014 The King \u2014 in unison with nearly 81,000 fans in the stadium. Tears filled his eyes. <\/p>\n \u201cWe really needed this,\u201d he said. \u201cTo be here, this moment, away from the chaos\u201d back in Texas. <\/p>\n Near him was an effusive couple calling a family in California: \u201cWe won!\u201d they screamed in English.<\/p>\n A few rows away, Hernandez, the El Pasoan decked in a black Mexican jersey, was slapping high-fives with strangers around him.<\/p>\n![\"Mexican](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1783776100_224_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Fans](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1783776100_96_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n