As the United States prepares to face Turkey on June 25 at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, one reality has become impossible to ignore. The players helping carry Team USA on soccer’s biggest stage are, in many cases, the children or grandchildren of immigrants.
Some were born abroad. Others were born in the United States to immigrant parents. Many hold dual citizenship. Several could have represented other nations but chose to wear the American jersey.
Their stories are a reminder of something long true about America: America is a nation of immigrants; they strengthen, not weaken, the country. That reality stands in sharp contrast to the rhetoric dominating much of today’s political debate.
At a time when the Trump administration is seeking to restrict birthright citizenship, expand deportations, and portray immigrants as threats rather than contributors, Team USA is being powered by the very immigrant roots that some politicians would prefer voters fear.
No player embodies that irony more than striker Folarin Balogun. Balogun scored twice in the Americans’ opening World Cup victory over Paraguay. Yet his very presence on the team is tied directly to the constitutional principle currently under attack in the courts.
His Nigerian parents were temporarily in New York when his mother, seven months pregnant, was prevented from boarding a flight back to London because of airline restrictions related to her pregnancy. Balogun was born in Brooklyn and became an American citizen under the 14th Amendment’s birthright citizenship clause. Today, President Donald Trump is seeking to narrow that constitutional protection through executive action.
Had that policy been in effect when Balogun was born, one of Team USA’s most dangerous attacking players might never have been eligible to represent the United States.
But Balogun is hardly alone. Tim Weah, another key player, is the son of Liberian football legend and former Liberian president George Weah and a Jamaican-American mother.
Gio Reyna was born in England, as was Antonee Robinson. Ricardo Pepi was born in Texas to Mexican parents. Haji Wright is the son of a Ghanaian father and a Liberian mother. Cristian Roldan could have represented Guatemala or El Salvador. Alejandro Zendejas was born in Mexico before moving to Texas as an infant. Sergiño Dest was born in the Netherlands to a Surinamese-American father.
Matt Turner traces his family roots to Jewish immigrants who fled persecution in Lithuania. Christian Pulisic carries Croatian heritage that helped open the door to his professional career in Europe.
This is not an exception. It is modern America. The irony becomes even greater when viewed through a global lens. Nearly one-quarter of all players participating in the 2026 World Cup are representing countries other than the ones where they were born. Twenty years ago, that figure was less than 9%. Morocco’s squad is dominated by players born in Europe. Bosnia and Herzegovina relies heavily on players whose families were displaced during the Balkan wars.
Across the tournament, migration stories have become national team stories. The World Cup itself has become a celebration of global movement, diaspora, and identity.
And nowhere is that more visible than on Team USA. These players are not evidence of America’s weakness. They are evidence of its strength.
Their families crossed oceans, fled conflict, sought opportunity, built lives, and raised children who now represent the United States before billions of viewers around the world.
Some arrived legally. Some through military families. Some have gone through generations of migration stretching back decades. Together, they tell a story far older than the current immigration debate.
The story of America has never been one of isolation. It has always been one of arrival. As Team USA takes the field against Turkey, Americans will cheer the goals, celebrate the victories, and wave the flag. Many may never stop to consider that some of the players carrying that flag today are living proof of the very immigration traditions that helped build the country in the first place.
The irony is hard to miss. At a moment when immigration and immigrants are often portrayed as a threat to America by xenophobes with White Supremacist ideals, immigrants and their children are helping carry America on the world’s biggest stage in its 250th year of independence — the 2026 World Cup.
Felicia J. Persaud is the founder and publisher of NewsAmericasNow.com, the only daily syndicated newswire and digital platform dedicated exclusively to Caribbean Diaspora and Black immigrant news across the Americas.
