{"id":320649,"date":"2026-06-03T09:15:17","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T09:15:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/320649\/"},"modified":"2026-06-03T09:15:17","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T09:15:17","slug":"houston-police-chief-not-at-all-concerned-about-ice-presence-or-immigration-raids-at-world-cup-houston-public-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/320649\/","title":{"rendered":"Houston police chief \u2018not at all\u2019 concerned about ICE presence or immigration raids at World Cup \u2013 Houston Public Media"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\"The<\/p>\n

Dominic Anthony Walsh<\/p>\n

Houston Police Chief Noe Diaz and Mayor John Whitmire announce pay raises for officers at a new HPD cadet class.<\/p>\n

The chief of Houston’s police department said he was “not at all” concerned about the possibility of immigration raids \u2014 or the presence of immigration officers \u2014 during the 2026 FIFA World Cup.<\/p>\n

“That’s not a concern for us in any capacity,” Houston Police Chief Noe Diaz said Tuesday during a news conference about safety and security for the upcoming international sporting event. “We’re just here to make sure that the events are safe; that the people that are coming to and from the suburbs into our community on a daily basis are focused on helping us help them so we can have a great event.”<\/p>\n

A Houston Public Media reporter asked to clarify whether that meant his office was in communication with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers, or if he was at all concerned about immigration raids.<\/p>\n

Sign up for the Hello, Houston!<\/a> daily newsletter to get local reports like this delivered directly to your inbox.<\/p>\n

“No, no, and no, for your questions,” Diaz replied.<\/p>\n

Houston’s World Cup host committee leadership has stated the presence of ICE officers is outside of their control. The federal agency has ramped up arrests and deportations<\/a> in the Houston area and across Texas and the United States under President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

RELATED: Local agencies say Houston is ready to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup<\/a><\/p>\n

“Obviously, that’s under the federal government,” Chris Canetti, president of the host committee, told reporters on Friday. “From our understanding, ICE will be playing a role in safety and security around the World Cup just like it does for Super Bowls and other major events, but they will not be conducting immigration activities. That’s to the best of our understanding.”<\/p>\n

Representatives from FIFA and ICE did not immediately return requests for comment.<\/p>\n

The presence of immigration law enforcement officers has been a question surrounding the World Cup for months as cities in the United States, Canada and Mexico are hosting the international soccer tournament. Democrats and immigrant advocates have expressed concerns that ICE had not solidified or shared its intentions with officials for the tournament, which is expected to draw a diverse body of fans to matches, celebrations and the FIFA Fan Festival<\/a> in East Downtown.<\/p>\n

Last month, U.S. Rep. Al Green, D-Houston, hosted a roundtable discussion<\/a> at NRG Park, where he and U.S. Rep. Bennie G. Thompson \u2014 ranking member of the U.S. House Homeland Security Committee \u2014 stated they were concerned about what role ICE would play in the World Cup.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were assured that those actions would not be encouraged,\u201d Thompson said. \u201cFrom our vantage point, the rumors are the rumors, but we\u2019ve talked to the people who are talking to ICE.\u201d<\/p>\n

The World Cup begins June 11 in Mexico City. Houston is hosting seven matches from June 14 through July 4.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dominic Anthony Walsh Houston Police Chief Noe Diaz and Mayor John Whitmire announce pay raises for officers at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":320650,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[20313,64,37274,56,58,57,114898,2543,1829,1724,3647,865,66,223,672,3692],"class_list":["post-320649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-2026-fifa-world-cup","tag-events","tag-fifa","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news","tag-houston-police-chief-noe-diaz","tag-houston-police-department","tag-ice","tag-immigration","tag-immigration-and-customs-enforcement","tag-law-enforcement","tag-local","tag-news","tag-police","tag-world-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320649","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=320649"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320649\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/320650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=320649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=320649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=320649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}