There are own goals in football and there are own goals in government communications, and the Department of Homeland Security scored the second kind on June 19 when it posted a photo of the U.S. men’s national team celebrating a World Cup goal with the caption “Defend The Homeland. One Nation. One Homeland. One Team. OUR SOIL,” accompanied by an American flag.
The player in the photograph scoring the goal was Folarin Balogun. Per HuffPost, Balogun is American because his mother, a Nigerian national, was visiting the United States when she went into labor and was denied boarding for her return flight because she was too pregnant to fly. She gave birth on American soil. Balogun became an American citizen through birthright citizenship. The Supreme Court spent the preceding several months reviewing whether the Trump administration could end birthright citizenship by executive order. DHS posted “OUR SOIL” with a photo of a player who exists in the USMNT specifically because of the right that DHS was simultaneously arguing in court that the president should be able to strip.
The response to the post, per HuffPost, was immediate. Rep. Ted Lieu wrote: “Dear @DHSgov: Did you know our starting forward is a US citizen through birthright citizenship? You’re trying to strip away that right. Did you know an additional 6 Team USA players were born outside US soil? Did you know half the team are dual citizens? Also, Happy Juneteenth.” Chef José Andrés wrote: “Defend the homeland? Millions of Americans who weren’t born on U.S. soil have helped do exactly that. Look at our national soccer team.” One commenter wrote: “You guys can’t do anything without embarrassing yourself.” Another wrote: “Shut the fuck up. You don’t get to claim this.”
The post remained up. The SCOTUS case continued. The court ruled 6-3 Tuesday to uphold birthright citizenship. Balogun scored in the round of 32 against Bosnia and Herzegovina on Tuesday night, helping the U.S. advance to the round of 16. He scored using his feet, which were, by virtue of his birth, standing on legal ground.
When the government posts “OUR SOIL” next to a player who exists because of the constitutional right the government is simultaneously fighting in court, what exactly is being defended?
Sources
HuffPost: DHS’ ‘Our Soil’ World Cup Post Backfires Spectacularly For 1 Huge Reason
HuffPost: US Beats Australia 2-0 Despite Christian Pulisic’s Absence
