Soccer brought them together in ICE detention. Now they’re out, but the games go on.

For 41-year-old Serafin Andrade, soccer is what got him through his time in an immigration detention over three years ago, even though those inside were only allowed to play for less than an hour a day. 

“While we were in detention, soccer was the only real thing we could do physically, outside of the confines of  the detention center, and it used to bring us a lot of joy,” he said. “We held little tournaments while we were there.”  

Now Serafin is close to graduating from U.C. Berkeley, and plays for Los Vuelgadores, one of several teams formed four years ago when the California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice, a non-profit that provides resources and legal representation for immigrants in detention, launched its Just Goals tournament. 

Last weekend, the University of San Francisco hosted the tournament, which coincided with the start of the World Cup. The players ranged from former Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees, individuals currently battling immigration cases, lawyers, and volunteers from several immigration nonprofits.

Eight teams — each of which had to raise at least $1,000 to register — showed up for this year’s tournament, which ultimately raised over $16,000. 

The conversation in the stands and among the players were wide-ranging — everything from soccer, visa problems at the World Cup, to the ramp-up of ICE detentions.

“I’m excited to be here with a community of a lot of folks who have had similar experiences like me. Some of the folks I know personally from detention,” Serafin said. “That’s what brought us together. It didn’t matter what country you were from, we all played soccer.”

Serafin noted that several players who participated last year were missing from this tournament. “Hopefully they make it one day,” he said. 

Edwin Carmona-Cruz, Just Goals’ executive director, estimated that at least two players registered into this year’s tournament are currently in ICE detention, including Guillermo Medina Reyes, a prominent Bay Area activist. Others are no longer in the country: At least half a dozen people the nonprofit has been in communication with opted for self-deportation because they could not withstand ICE detention conditions, said Carmona-Cruz.

Others had been released, but were unable to attend the tournament because their movements are monitored and restricted by ICE, he added. 

Miranda Ramos, who runs Nuestra Alianza de Willits, a Mendocino County-based resource center for asylum seekers and their families, drove over three and a half hours to make it to the tournament. Her teenage son, Emiliano, was a free agent playing for several teams in the tournament.

Ramos, a self-proclaimed soccer fanatic who also coaches, sat with her husband looking around at the field and the sidelines, filled with families and picnic baskets and energy. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more diverse set of players fielded at one time,” she said.

Ramos said the California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice helped her organization when a member of her soccer community was detained by ICE. They were able to get him out and reunite him with his family within less than 24 hours, which she said is rare. “I was able to cheer him on in a Sunday league game a couple weeks later.” 

Pedro Ayon, 39, a team captain and volunteer with the Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity and Pangaea Legal Services, drove from Sacramento to make it to the tournament. He began working with Just Goals after his own experience with ICE, he said. 

“I have gone through the detention system myself, fought my case, and I know that it takes a whole village to make things happen.”

As the games  went on, talk turned to the other tournament—the World Cup, where several national players and staff faced visa difficulties entering the United States, with many being denied entry altogether. 

Over 15 Iranians — including Iran’s  Football Federation President, Mehdi Taj — had their visas denied or faced travel restrictions, such as being required to leave the country minutes after their opening game against New Zealand in Inglewood, California concluded. 

Omar Artan, who was named referee of the year by the African Football Federation, and was set to be the first Somali referee to officiate a world cup, was denied entry into the United States due to “vetting concerns.”

“That’s just foul,” Serafin said.

“Those athletes, they want to just come and enjoy and be a part of such a beautiful event that unites people of all nations,” added Ayon. 

In times like these, said Carmona-Cruz just being together at events like the tournament is critical. 

“Joy is an act of resistance,” he said. “So many people are laughing, reminiscing, remembering difficult times — and then thinking about them as learning moments, moments that have  inspired them to keep going.”