{"id":369852,"date":"2026-08-13T00:00:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T00:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/369852\/"},"modified":"2026-08-13T00:00:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T00:00:12","slug":"ice-detains-argentine-soccer-player-at-florida-airport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/369852\/","title":{"rendered":"ICE Detains Argentine Soccer Player at Florida Airport"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"storyParagraph\">&#13;<br \/>\n                                        A 34-year-old midfielder for Miami United FC never made it to his team&#8217;s national championship match in Los Angeles\u2014he was detained by ICE while eating pizza at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport instead. Argentine player Mat\u00edas Pourrain was taken into custody on Thursday and moved to Glades County Detention Center after three days at ICE&#8217;s Miramar office, reports the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.miaminewtimes.com\/news\/ice-detains-argentinian-semipro-soccer-player-at-fort-lauderdale-airport-40575504\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Miami New Times<\/a>, where his attorney says he slept sitting up in an overcrowded cell and went without a shower. Miami United, a fourth-tier semi-pro club, said in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.miamiunitedsoccer.com\/news\/official-statement-miami-united-fc\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">a statement<\/a> that it was &#8220;deeply shocked&#8221; and has provided him with legal help. &#8220;We are with you, Mat\u00edas,&#8221; it said.&#13;\n                                    <\/p>\n<p class=\"storyParagraph\">&#13;<br \/>\n                                        The Department of Homeland Security says Pourrain entered the US legally in November 2019 on a six-month stay and then remained past May 2020, calling him &#8220;an illegal alien from Argentina&#8221; who violated immigration law. His brother told Argentina&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/tn.com.ar\/deportes\/futbol\/2026\/08\/07\/quien-es-el-futbolista-argentino-que-fue-detenido-por-el-ice-cuando-iba-a-abordar-un-avion-en-eeuu\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Todo Noticias<\/a> that Pourrain had applied for asylum and held a work permit and Social Security number while awaiting an appointment. &#8220;It seems that now they are arresting those who have pending appointments,&#8221; said Juan Pourrain. ICE says he&#8217;ll stay in custody during removal proceedings and touted a program offering money and flights to those who &#8220;self-deport.&#8221; Pourrain&#8217;s lawyer has filed a motion for bond and requested a hearing.&#13;\n                                    <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"&#13; A 34-year-old midfielder for Miami United FC never made it to his team&#8217;s national championship match in&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":369853,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[4101,6801,28,30,29,1877,123,2062],"class_list":["post-369852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-argentina","tag-asylum","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-ice","tag-miami","tag-soccer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=369852"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369852\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/369853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=369852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=369852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=369852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}