President Donald Trump’s administration has issued a statement explaining why Somali World Cup referee Omar Artan was denied entry into the United States ahead of the finals.

🇰🇪 Breaking It Down

In an official statement to CNN released on June 10, U.S. officials said Artan was deemed inadmissible due to alleged associations with suspected members of terrorist organisations.

“This individual was seeking admission into the United States. Upon further inspection by Customs and Border Protection, derogatory information, including association with suspected members of terror organisation was discovered, making the traveller ineligible for admission into the United States under the Immigration and Nationality Act,” the statement read.

The officials provided no further details on the claimed associations but Artan was reportedly questioned for 11 hours, including inquiries related to Al Shabab, the militant group operating in Somalia and affiliated with Al-Qaeda.

📌 What You Need to Know

Artan was denied entry despite being issued a three-month multiple-entry visa after vetting at the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi.

The referee has now returned to Somalia after travelling to Miami only to be turned back, cutting short his historic appointment as the first Somali to officiate a match at the World Cup finals.

Clarification from U.S. authorities comes after the denial drew international attention, given Artan’s high profile and the significance of his potential World Cup appointment.

In Somalia and across the African football community , the decision sparked widespread backlash and outrage on behalf of the referee, who was named Africa’s Referee of the Year at the 2025 Confederation of African Football (CAF) Awards.

At the same time, when asked about the incident, White House World Cup Task Force Chief Andrew Giuliani said the decision to deny entry was made for a good reason.

“There’s been one referee who has not been admitted and I can’t go into the details. What I can tell you, high-level, is that it was for very good reason. I support that decision. I was speaking directly with the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Commissioner of Customs and Border Protection a couple of days ago on this, and it was for very good reason that ultimately this referee did not get in the country,” he said.

📰 Source: Kenyans.co.ke