{"id":692350,"date":"2026-06-08T22:08:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T22:08:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/692350\/"},"modified":"2026-06-08T22:08:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T22:08:10","slug":"somali-world-cup-referee-omar-artan-denied-entry-into-the-united-states","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/692350\/","title":{"rendered":"Somali World Cup referee Omar Artan denied entry into the United States"},"content":{"rendered":"

Your support helps us to tell the story<\/p>\n

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.<\/p>\n

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.<\/p>\n

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.<\/p>\n

Your support makes all the difference.Read more<\/p>\n

A Somali referee chosen to officiate at the World Cup has been denied entry into the United States<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Omar Artan was turned away by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP<\/a>) upon his arrival at Miami International Airport<\/a> from Istanbul<\/a> on Saturday.<\/p>\n

CBP confirmed on Monday that a Somali national who was planning to referee in the World Cup had been denied entry.<\/p>\n

Although the CBP statement on Monday did not explicitly name the individual, Artan is the sole World Cup referee representing Somalia.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring processing, the traveler underwent additional inspection, a routine part of CBP\u2019s inspection process when officers need to verify information or determine admissibility,\u201d CBP said in its statement. <\/p>\n

\u201cFollowing inspection, the traveler, a referee for the FIFA World Cup, was determined to be inadmissible due to vetting concerns and was denied entry.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ArtanArtan is the sole World Cup referee representing Somalia this summer (Getty)<\/p>\n

CBP noted that all travelers seeking entry into the U.S. \u2014 including athletes, coaches and staff \u2014 are subject to CBP inspection and vetting.<\/p>\n

\u201cAdmissibility determinations are made on a case-by-case basis using law enforcement, national security, and immigration information available at the time of inspection,\u201d the CBP statement said. <\/p>\n

\u201cCBP officers have the authority to question travelers, conduct inspections, and determine admissibility consistent with U.S. law.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Iran<\/a>\u2019s World Cup team arrived in Mexico<\/a> this weekend wearing lapel pins that paid tribute<\/a> to the victims<\/a> of a deadly missile strike on an elementary school<\/a> at the start of the war with the United States and Israel.<\/p>\n

The gold-colored pins, worn by players on their jackets upon arrival in Tijuana, Mexico, on Sunday, bore the number “168.”<\/p>\n

The number refers to the victims, predominantly children, who were killed in a February 28 strike on a school in Minab, southern Iran, an attack widely attributed to the U.S.<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s embassy in Hungary on Monday acknowledged the pins in a social media post, specifically referencing Minab.<\/p>\n

The gesture follows a similar tribute by the team in March, prior to a warmup game in Antalya, Turkey. On that occasion, players displayed pink and purple school backpacks during their national anthem, drawing attention to the same incident.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":692351,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,3,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":["post-692350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-news","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/692350","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=692350"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/692350\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/692351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=692350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=692350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=692350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}