Mullin says ICE arrests possible at World Cup, backs Florida detention site

Immigration arrests at the 2026 FIFA World Cup are not off the table, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said, but he drew a line between using the tournament as an immigration dragnet and enforcing laws if ICE officers encounter other violations. The message signaled how the new DHS chief is trying to project a tougher public posture around major events without saying the agency is there solely to make arrests.

Mullin, confirmed by the Senate on March 24 in a bipartisan 54-45 vote and sworn in the same day as the 9th secretary of Homeland Security, is overseeing a department that will be stretched by the World Cup, hurricane season and a hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship. The tournament will be played across 11 American cities and is expected to draw more than a million foreign tourists, putting DHS and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the center of security planning.

That security role has become part of a broader effort to normalize a more aggressive immigration enforcement presence in public life. FIFA and DHS have described the threat environment as extremely high, and local officials in host cities have already been building layered security plans. Mullin did not rule out arrests if ICE officers come across people wanted for other crimes or customs violations, even as he said the agency would not be in place solely to pursue immigration arrests.

On detention, Mullin also defended Florida's controversial Alligator Alcatraz site by saying DHS has no near-term plan to shut it down, even though he acknowledged the facility is vulnerable to natural disasters. The Everglades site has faced mounting legal challenges, high operating costs and allegations of inhumane conditions from detainees and immigrant advocates. Florida vendors hired to run the center were told it would close and detainees would be moved by the start of June, with about 1,400 detainees expected to be removed in the coming weeks.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said on May 7 that Alligator Alcatraz was always meant to be temporary and that "at some point, we will, of course, break it down." Mullin's refusal to endorse a shutdown, even as state vendors were told to prepare for one, suggests DHS is still weighing the site’s future while publicly resisting the political symbolism of closing it. That split-screen approach mirrors the broader challenge for the department: project control, keep enforcement visible and manage the optics of a system already under pressure.