Artan, who was named the Confederation of African Soccer (Caf) males’s referee of the 12 months in 2025, was one in every of 52 referees chosen for the match.
Nonetheless, his “dream” got here crashing down as he tried to journey to the on-pitch officers’ base in Florida, with Artan telling the New York Instances, exterior he had confronted an 11-hour immigration interview and was detained for a number of hours earlier than be was placed on a flight again to Istanbul, Turkey.
Chatting with BBC World Service, Andrew Giuliani, who leads the White Home Activity Power on the World Cup, mentioned: “Whereas I am unable to go into the derog [derogatory information] on that I can inform you it was the correct resolution by customs and border patrol and I assist that call.”
It was not doable for Artan to remain outdoors the USA and referee matches performed in Canada or Mexico, with all on-pitch officers primarily based in Florida for coaching, preparation, and safety.
Trump positioned a full entry ban underneath any visa class for 12 international locations, together with Somalia, in June 2025.
Two days earlier than the World Cup attract December 2025, Trump drew widespread consideration for feedback made about Somalia within the lead as much as a deliberate immigration enforcement operation in Minnesota, which has a big Somali group.
“With Somalia, which is barely a rustic, you recognize, they haven’t any something,” he mentioned.
“They simply run round killing one another. There is not any construction.”
He added that Somali immigrants ought to “return to the place they got here from” and that the US would “go the incorrect means if we hold taking in rubbish to our nation”.
On arriving house, Artan urged Somalia’s youth to not lose hope of their nation within the face of his therapy, stating: “Let’s all defend Somalia’s honour. All of us belong to Somalia whether or not it is dangerous or good.
“That flag is ours and so is the passport – let’s defend it.
“The youth should not be demoralised about their nation. Regardless of this occurring to me, I will nonetheless stand for my nation.
“I need to proceed my journey from right here and urge the youth to do the identical.”
