Bipartisan Florida delegation wants Joe Biden’s 2026 World Cup security plan

Global soccer is coming to Florida, and members of Congress want to ensure residents and visitors are safe.

And to that end, they want answers from the outgoing presidential administration regarding the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

U.S. Senators Marco Rubio and Rick Scott are joined by Reps. Aaron Bean, Mario Diaz-Balart, Carlos Gimenez, Scott Franklin, Jared Moskowitz, Maria Elvira Salazar, and Mike Waltz in a letter to President Joe Biden and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas about preparations for matches in Miami and training by teams throughout the state at “base camps.”

The legislators want “the administration to ensure our communities are provided with the planning, resources and information they need to provide a safe event.”

“As FBI Director Wray highlighted to Congress in June 2024, the United States faces an all-time high threat environment. With the country looking forward to 2026, we hope that by highlighting our concerns now, the United States, including Florida, will be better prepared to host the World Cup,” the Floridians write.

Among their concerns: whether the Department of Homeland Security can fulfill “necessary security needs;” the readiness of the Transportation Security Administration and Customs and Border Protection “to meet the increased frequency of travelers;” how DHS will work with state and local law enforcement in the event of “terrorist threat assessments connected to any World Cup-related event;” and how the Office of Intelligence and Analysis is working “to improve real-time information sharing between the Department and state and local law enforcement agencies in the lead up to and during the United States (and Florida specifically) hosting the World Cup.”