A United States official said Tuesday night that Omar Artan, the Somalian soccer referee who was denied entry into the country ahead of the World Cup, was refused admission due to "association with suspected members of terror organizations."
The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a matter that is covered by visa privacy laws.
Speaking earlier Tuesday, Andrew Giuliani, the executive director of the White House FIFA Task Force, said Artan was denied admittance for "very good reason" but declined to offer details.
Artan was denied entry at Miami International Airport on Saturday over "vetting concerns," U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in a statement without giving details of those concerns. He was issued a visa to travel to the U.S. last week, according to the Somalia Embassy in Kenya that processed it.
Artan told The New York Times he was interviewed at the Miami airport for 11 hours by border officials, who asked him why he'd traveled to the U.S. and questioned him about Somali politics and the al-Shabab militant group that is fighting an insurgency against the government there. He showed them FIFA documentation and photos from his refereeing career, he said.
After the questioning, he was put in a holding cell and sent back on a plane to Istanbul, from where he'd taken his connecting flight to the U.S.
"I think that they have a problem with my country," Artan told The New York Times, adding that he had the correct documents and visa. He said he wasn't told why he was refused entry, according to the Times.
Artan, who was named Africa's best male referee in 2025, was set to be the first referee from Somalia to officiate at a World Cup after making FIFA's final list for the tournament, which was announced two months ago. FIFA said it was not involved in the immigration process and was informed by U.S. authorities that Artan's "status will not be changed at present."
The Somalia Youth and Sports Ministry said Tuesday that its embassy in the U.S. was trying to resolve the problem to allow Artan to referee at the World Cup, which begins Thursday.
The move to deny a FIFA-appointed match official permission to enter a World Cup host country is highly unusual.
Artan was scheduled to meet up with other World Cup referees at their training base in Miami.
Somalia is one of nearly 40 countries subjected to new travel restrictions under the Trump administration's crackdown on immigration. That raised concerns that fans, players and officials from those countries -- most of which are African -- might be caught up in the crackdown and denied entry for the World Cup despite having valid visas.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.