Some lawmakers say that the Department of Homeland Security shutdown is hindering coordination and safety preparations for the upcoming FIFA World Cup games across the country.

The department has operated without full funding from Congress for more than 100 days over the past year, interrupting agencies’ coordination with city and state officials, delaying trainings and leading to an exodus of DHS staff ahead of the tournament.

“You’re talking about an international event in the area most targeted for terrorism,” said Republican Rep. Mike Lawler of New York, which is listed as a host site for the games. “I think it is insane that we are in a situation where the department responsible for coordinating the security of this event has been shut down for over 110 days. At a time we’re at war, by the way.”

“It should not be solely on the backs of New York and New Jersey taxpayers to ensure the safety and security,” Lawler added. “And so obviously, the funds are critical to do that.”

On Capitol Hill, Senate Republicans are preparing to pass a reconciliation bill to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement and parts of Customs and Border Patrol, bringing Congress another step closer to ending the shutdown that has gone on for nine weeks. They say a fully operational agency is needed to ensure safety preparations are done appropriately in advance of the June tournament.

DHS provides the “background and training and preparation that goes into making sure people are safe in those big venues. So it’s very important we get this funding in place,” Sen. John Hoeven told NOTUS. “That’s why we’re doing budget reconciliation. To make sure we get this done and it doesn’t happen again.”

Sen. John Cornyn, whose home state of Texas is scheduled to host several World Cup games, told NOTUS that World Cup attendees are lucky that some funds were allocated in Republicans’ 2025 reconciliation package. But Cornyn echoed Hoeven that the new deal under consideration is necessary to ensure safety at the events.

“I don’t think we’re at that point yet, because we did basically pre-fund those efforts,” Cornyn said when asked if the shutdown would derail World Cup preparations in Texas. “But when you’re talking about this many people coming from around the world, it doesn’t help that this is where we are.”

Republicans say that delays in funding and in coordinating with DHS have already created issues with securing the events and presented several hurdles in the preparation.

“Look, this shutdown [is] defunding ICE and CBP and the other DHS components like Secret Service, who are responsible for all of the national special security events,” said Florida Rep. John Rutherford, whose state is home to one of the host cities for the event. “They’re endangering citizens’ lives here. And I can tell you my greatest fear is a drone attack into one of these major events.”

“FIFA is going to be a world stage event,” Rutherford added.

Like other Republicans, Rutherford blamed Democrats for the funding impasse. But Democrats, who object to funding the department without a series of guardrails on immigration enforcement, agree with Republicans that FIFA security preparations are a priority — and they say it wouldn’t be an issue if Republicans could get their own members in line to pass funding.

“I have many concerns about DHS being shut down,” Sen. Chris Murphy, the ranking member on the Homeland Security Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on DHS, told NOTUS. “Generally, FIFA is on my list, but all that needs to happen is for Speaker Johnson to schedule a vote.”

Democrats argued that all the funding needed from DHS for the World Cup would have been in place already if House Republicans had agreed to pass a bill passed twice by the Senate, which would have funded the agencies under DHS, with the exceptions of ICE and parts of CBP.

“I think everybody is moving forward with what they need to do,” said Sen. Patty Murray, ranking member on the Senate Appropriations Committee. “I know it’s a concern, but if they would just pass the bill, then they can take the stress off their lives.”

The World Cup is set to take place in June across 11 U.S. cities, including Los Angeles, Atlanta, Miami, Philadelphia and Dallas. FIFA projects the sporting event will create $11 billion in revenue, with millions of soccer fans expected to descend on the country to watch the tournament.

Rep. Carlos Giménez, a Florida Republican who represents Miami, told NOTUS that he doesn’t “anticipate any hiccups” with the event, adding that the effect of the shutdown will be minimal.

“It will impact some,” Giménez said. “But again, most of that security apparatus that takes care of those events are local in nature. And we have some pretty deep resources.”

Ha Nguyen McNeill, the acting administrator for the Transportation Security Administration, told members of the House Appropriations Committee last week that she’s concerned that the shutdown could decrease the number of TSA officers at local airports.

“We are less than two months away from the FIFA World Cup. It takes us four to six months to train up a new officer,” McNeill said. “And so with any spikes in attrition, it’s going to put us in a pretty difficult situation come this summer.”

Even already-appropriated funding for the events was delayed for months, including $625 million in FEMA funding security that was included in last year’s reconciliation package. In a statement to NOTUS, DHS blamed the shutdown for the delay in distributing those funds.

“The award process for the FIFA World Cup Grant Program was significantly hampered by the lapse in DHS appropriations,” the spokesperson said in the statement. “This is the third shutdown in six months, with a combined total of over 114 days (and counting) which made the process extremely challenging and caused significant delays.

“Obviously, when most staff are out, processing takes much longer, but the grants were issued as soon as possible under these circumstances,” the spokesperson added.

New Jersey Rep. Nellie Pou, the ranking Democrat on the House Committee on Homeland Security’s Task Force on Enhancing Security for Special Events, told NOTUS that she doesn’t think the DHS shutdown will affect the World Cup. She added that DHS currently has “sufficient funds in their budget” and can “easily transfer” them if necessary.

But a delay in FEMA funding for the event has already had an impact.

“There has to be a great deal of coordination between federal, state, county and local officials,” Pou said. “The fact that it’s in my district, I need to make sure that my surrounding towns are well prepared for that. The fact that it took so long only gave them a shorter period of time to be able to do this and do it in a manner that they will be well prepared for it.”