The Trump administration is defending its choice to bar Somali referee Omar Abdulkadir Artan from coming into the US, simply days earlier than the FIFA World Cup, over alleged hyperlinks to a terrorist group. A FIFA spokesperson mentioned in an announcement that the World Cup organizer “is not involved in host country immigration processes.” Artan, who was named Africa’s prime male referee in 2025, would have been the first Somali to referee at the event. NCS’s Larry Madowo studies.