Noem: Shutdown to blame for delay in World Cup security funding

WASHINGTON — Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Thursday the reason security preparations for the 2026 FIFA World Cup are in jeopardy is that a partial government shutdown has frozen $625 million already approved by Congress.

Noem confirmed in a statement that distribution of Federal Emergency Management Agency money to 11 U.S. host cities to help beef up security has been stalled.

"No funds have been awarded yet under the FIFA World Cup Grant Program," she said, blaming the delay on Democrats who she said are causing her department’s partial shutdown.

FEMA "was in the final stages of reviewing applications to ensure proper oversight," Noem said, "when Democrats shut down the government, putting significant portions of the FEMA staff on administrative leave."

The top Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee, Rep. Bennie Thompson, of Mississippi, scoffed at Noem’s blame-throwing statement.

"Congress appropriated funding for World Cup security last July, yet DHS didn't let host cities apply for the funding until November. Kristi Noem then missed her own department’s Jan. 30 deadline for awarding the World Cup funding, and now she wants to blame Congress for her own department’s dysfunction," Thompson said.

"She has no one to blame but herself," he said.

Long Island Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-Bayport), chair of the House Homeland Security Committee, did not provide an immediate response.

Noem’s statement, sent to Newsday and posted on X, comes after Garbarino and colleagues on the Homeland Security panel heard testimony Tuesday from World Cup host city representatives that time was running short — one saying the money was needed within 30 days or some side events would have to be canceled.

The World Cup matches will last nearly six weeks, from June 11 in Mexico City through the July 19 final at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

Although Mexico and Canada also will be hosting matches, about three-fourths of the record 104 games will be played in U.S. host cities, including eight at MetLife Stadium.

The $625 million at issue is money Congress appropriated as part of President Donald Trump’s big domestic spending bill last year. It was intended to support security buildups, training and readiness exercises, cybersecurity defenses and increased information sharing and analysis between law enforcement agencies.

But Ray Martinez, chief operating officer of the 2026 FIFA World Cup Miami Host Committee, told Garbarino’s panel on Tuesday that the roughly $70 million to his city must arrive within 30 days, so preparations can move forward.

"Without receiving this money," Martinez said, "it could be catastrophic for our planning and coordination."

At issue, he explained, is that states and communities must start building and coordinating security plans beyond the stadiums — for team base camps, the huge multiday FIFA fan fests, and other outside events tied to the games that also are expected to draw hundreds of thousands of people.

Joseph Mabin, deputy chief of the Kansas City, Missouri, police, told lawmakers the funding is critical for that city’s security staffing and mutual aid preparations, for what will be an 18-day fan festival and six matches at Arrowhead Stadium over three weeks.

"We just don’t have enough officers within my own department to cover all the threats," he said.

Rep. Nellie Pou, of New Jersey, the top Democrat on a special House task force overseeing the World Cup and whose district includes MetLife Stadium, said the money was needed to keep the games safe. "This isn’t competency," Pou said. "This is chaos."

The Department of Homeland Security is in a partial shutdown because Congress has been locked in a fight over a bill to keep its operations fully funded. The battle is centered on demands by Democrats for restrictions on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement tactics and operations in the wake of Trump’s stepped-up deportation push in Minneapolis and other cities, and fatalities involving federal agents.

Noem on Sunday scaled back FEMA operations to "bare-minimum, life-saving operations only."

In her statement Thursday, Noem said, "This Democrat shutdown directly impacts DHS’s ability to keep Americans safe at these events and our national security. Democrats must end this shutdown now and let DHS get back to our mission of protecting the homeland."

Pou, in a response, noted that the department itself had previously listed the funding award dates as occurring no later than Jan. 30, "well before the funding impasse."

"It’s time for DHS to do its job," she said.