US soccer star’s two World Cup goals thrust Trump birthright citizenship push into spotlight

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U.S. men’s soccer striker Folarin Balogun scored two goals in the Americans’ victorious opener of the FIFA World Cup on Friday, a performance that would not have occurred had his mother not traveled to the U.S. just before he was born.

The performance has also put President Trump’s push to end birthright citizenship back in the spotlight. A challenge to Trump’s executive order ending the policy is before the Supreme Court.

Balogun’s mother, Florence Balogun, traveled to New York while she was seven months pregnant with the future soccer star in 2001. Florence Balogun and her husband, Ben Balogun, were born in Nigeria and lived in London at the time.

While Florence Balogun was at the airport to head back to England, airline employees refused to allow her to fly — saying she was too pregnant, according to an ESPN profile of her son from 2023.

As a result, she stayed with her sister-in-law in Brooklyn and gave birth to Folarin in America on July 3, 2001, ESPN reported. Nearly 22 years later, and despite coming up in the Arsenal academy and playing for England’s under-17, under-18 and under-21 teams, Folarin Balogun decided to play for the U.S. senior national team.

That decision paid off on his World Cup debut, as the 24-year-old scored the second and third goals of the Americans’ 4-1 victory over Paraguay on Friday. The win marked the most goals the U.S. has ever scored in a single World Cup game, and it’s one more than the three goals it netted in the entire 2022 tournament.

After the match, the striker said his pair of goals validated his choice to play for his birth country.

“When I committed and throughout the whole cycle and the whole journey, to me, being at this point — I’ve always said the fans gave me so much motivation, showed me so much support and for me, the most important thing has been being able to repay that,” he said, according to CBS Sports.

“I feel like today’s a great opportunity and like I said, I just want to continue to show the fans I made the right decision, and I’m completely proud, and I want to continue to make the fans proud as well.”

But if the Supreme Court were to rule in favor of the president on birthright citizenship, Folarin Balogun may not be able to play for the U.S.

The president’s executive order, which he signed on his first day back in office, stated that the 14th Amendment “has never been interpreted to extend citizenship universally to everyone born within the United States.”

The American Civil Liberties Union, its state chapters and various left-leaning advocacy groups filed suit against the order last year. The high court heard oral arguments in April, with the Legal Defense Fund noting at the time that it expects a decision by the end of June or early July.

That will coincide with the World Cup, which runs through July 19. While it is unlikely that a decision from the Supreme Court will have implications for the tournament, it could impact whether Folarin Balogun can be on the U.S. roster at the 2030 World Cup in Morocco, Portugal and Spain.

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