CF Pachuca and FC Salzburg will face off tonight at TQL Stadium in a FIFA Club World Cup match. The match will be the first in a series of international match-ups running through June 25 at TQL Stadium in Cincinnati’s West End neighborhood, bordering Over-the-Rhine. Off the field, immigration attorneys worry that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents (ICE) could use the event to target immigrant populations.
As fans of the teams from Pachuca, Mexico, and Salzburg, Austria, flood into Cincinnati for the 6 p.m. soccer game, immigration attorney Sarah Larcade foresees ICE agents moving in on fans outside TQL Stadium, with the goal of, “an easy ‘how many people can we get’” operation.
“We have received credible information that ICE will be even more present in Southwest Ohio and Greater Cincinnati starting next week. Specifically, they will be targeting FIFA games being hosted at TQL Stadium,” Larcade wrote in a post shared on Instagram.
Larcade is the founder of Larcade Law, LLC, and has practiced immigration law for eight years. She and her two partners specialize in securing visas, green cards, asylum and citizenship for immigrants in Ohio and Kentucky.
“I do think that this specific, targeted action, it’s a matter of convenience for [ICE],” Larcade told CityBeat. “I think that the idea is, ‘we’re gonna go to this place and see how many people we can get to give us a foreign ID and then arrest.’”
Soccer, more commonly known as football around the world, is one of the most popular sports in the world. The fanbase is especially strong in Latino communities in the U.S. and abroad, which have a rich soccer history and proudly claim legendary players like Messi, Pelé and Maradona. In 2024, more than 12 million people from the U.S. watched the Copa Amèrica final, and 53% of these viewers were Hispanic, according to Nielsen.
Larcade said that, while officers only need reasonable suspicion of noncitizen status to ask for identification, this leads to a complicated racial profiling case. But even with these concerns of illegal profiling, she doesn’t think that will stop ICE at tonight’s match.
“What’s your reasonable suspicion? I am just a Hispanic-looking person at a soccer game? Then that’s not a legal way to stop someone,” said Larcade. “But I don’t think that’s going to stop [ICE] from doing it.”
Larcade’s best advice for people attending today’s match is to know your constitutional rights – there’s only so much information you have to provide.
“I’m guessing they’re just going to be asking people for IDs,” she said. “If you’re out in public, you do not have to do anything other than provide your name, date of birth and address, beyond that, nothing.”
For U.S. citizens attending the FIFA game, or really anyone walking around TQL Stadium tonight, Larcade said there are ways to step in if you suspect ICE is profiling someone based on their ethnicity.
“I think a bystander, if you see that happening, I 100% say get out your phone and record,” Larcade said. “With that being said, you can’t interfere with the interaction, but you can say, even when you’re videoing, ‘Why are you asking this person for ID?’ And you can say, ‘Why didn’t you ask me for my ID?’ And then you have them on record either saying something crazy or not being able to give an answer.”
Larcade said ICE might not care what a bystander thinks or says during a stop, but pushback can help, especially if agents are pursuing a concentrated area with lots of witnesses.
“I think it’s an easy ‘how many people can we get’ [operation], and if you’re getting pushback, maybe they just let it go,” she said. “I don’t know, but I definitely think it’s worthwhile.”
The reported increased presence of ICE agents at FIFA soccer games and in Cincinnati at large is part of the federal administration’s nationwide crackdown on noncitizens. The Cincinnati neighborhood of East Price Hill was previously targeted by immigration officials earlier this month, followed by the arrest of recent high school graduate Emerson Colindres, 19, from Cincinnati’s west side. He’s since been deported to Honduras.
“Question it,” is Larcade’s advice for possible bystanders tonight that witness ICE approaching someone for an ID. “You have to be respectful and you can’t obviously do anything to impede the situation, or threaten an ICE officer, but you can question them, and you can, in a civilized way, try to protect that person.”
Red cards
Remembering your rights and knowing what to say or what not to say can be difficult to remember in the face of a distressing ICE encounter. That’s why advocates for immigrant communities are distributing informational cards, known as red cards.
“There is a really great resource that is colloquially known as red cards that people can carry on their person,” said Samantha Searls, Immigration Justice program director at Ignite Peace. “If they come in contact with ICE they can give them this red business card and it asserts their right to remain silent and also demands to see a warrant.”
The language on red cards can vary across organizations, but they generally list basic rights for immigrants to know in the event of an ICE or law enforcement encounter. Ohio Immigrant Alliance has a website called OhioisHome.org that links to options to order red cards or download a printable version in 16 different languages.
The card also gives holders a script of what to say if questioned by ICE:
I do not wish to speak with you, answer your questions, or sign or hand you any documents based on my 5th Amendment rights under the United States Constitution.
I do not give you permission to enter my home based on my 4th Amendment rights under the United States Constitution unless you have a warrant to enter, signed by a judge or magistrate with my name on it that you slide under the door.
I do not give you permission to search any of my belongings based on my 4th Amendment rights.
I choose to exercise my constitutional rights.
Searls said these cards have long been common in immigrant communities, but they’re now more useful than ever.
“We’ve been hearing reports already from other locations around the country that it’s working when people stand up for their rights,” Searls said. “They are protected because there are certain rules that ICE has to follow, however they can sweep anybody up if they admit that they’re here without papers or even that they’re here from another country. So it’s really important that people remain strong in such a scary moment to assert their right to stay silent.”
Follow CityBeat’s staff news writer Madeline Fening on Instagram. Got a news tip? Email mfening@citybeat.com.
This article appears in Jun 11-24, 2025.
