Seventy grocery deliveries. That is the concrete measure of what a football community in Portland, Maine managed to organise when US Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids left players and their families too frightened to leave their homes. It is a number that says more about the game's social reach than any passing statistic could.

Kennedy Park, an asphalt pitch in the New England city, has since 2021 hosted informal pick-up matches drawing players from dozens of countries. What began as a few posts on social media has grown into something considerably harder to quantify: a community built almost entirely through the universal shorthand of football.

A common language without words

George Lusolo arrived in the United States from the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2018, aged around 13, seeking asylum alongside his mother. After time in detention in Texas and a period in a New York shelter, he eventually settled in Portland. He spoke little English and knew nobody.

He saw a social media post about a game. He turned up. That was enough.

"What was really exciting to me was there's people like me playing in this field," Lusolo, now 19, told BBC Sport Africa. "Soccer is my therapy. When you're playing with people that are from the same place from you, from the same struggle, it really feels really nice."

Fellow Congolese immigrant Deji Kuribanza, 18, who came to the US via Angola, captures neatly why the pitch functions as a meeting point across language barriers. "Everybody does not need to speak in one language," he said. "Just point to your feet, some part in your body and ask for the ball."

Anthony Fiori, who coordinates the matches, has watched that informal trust translate into organised mutual aid. When ICE activity intensified across Maine, the Kennedy Park group mobilised those 70-plus grocery runs to households that felt unsafe venturing out — a logistical operation that required exactly the kind of inter-community trust football had spent four years building.

Joel Andre's case

The raids had a direct, personal impact on the Kennedy Park group. Joel Andre, a 17-year-old described by his attorney Todd Pomerleau as "a soccer star in Maine, a bright kid," was detained along with his family. The circumstances were particularly stark: his family had travelled from DR Congo to Canada to seek asylum, unaware that a bilateral agreement between the US and Canada means a claim can only be lodged in one of the two countries. That technicality led to ICE detention.

The Kennedy Park community campaigned publicly for the family's release. After four months, they succeeded. Joel is now fighting his asylum case in a US federal court.

Pomerleau is candid about the lasting damage. "You can tell he'll never be the same," he told the BBC. "I don't think anyone that goes through this is ever the same. They need counselling, religion, friends, family." The facility, he said, served inadequate food and kept some rooms extremely cold.

The Migration Policy Institute — an independent, non-partisan body — estimates at least 400,000 people have been arrested by ICE since January 2025. The US Department of Homeland Security maintains that those targeted pose a threat to public safety and national security, and that people in the country legally have "nothing to worry about." Rights groups dispute that framing, arguing the crackdown has caught people with no risk profile.

What Kennedy Park actually represents

With the 2026 World Cup set to be hosted across the United States, Canada and Mexico, the timing of this story is pointed. The tournament is built on rhetoric about football uniting nations. Kennedy Park is a less glamorous version of the same idea — asphalt rather than stadium turf, pick-up rather than professional, but the mechanism is identical.

Fiori's coordination work, the grocery runs, the campaign for Joel Andre — none of it would exist without the original, simple act of turning up to kick a ball with strangers. That is, in the end, what the pitch in Portland has proved: belonging can start with something as uncomplicated as asking for a pass.

Frequently asked

Where is Kennedy Park football taking place?
Kennedy Park is an asphalt pitch in Portland, Maine, in the north-eastern United States. Informal pick-up matches have been held there since 2021, drawing players from dozens of countries.
How have ICE raids affected immigrant football communities in the US?
According to Anthony Fiori, who coordinates the Kennedy Park games, players and their families became too afraid to leave their homes during ICE activity. Students missed weeks of school, and the football community organised over 70 grocery deliveries to support those unable to go out safely.
What happened to Joel Andre after he was detained by ICE?
Joel Andre, a 17-year-old Kennedy Park player, was detained along with his family for four months. The community campaigned for his release and succeeded. His family are now fighting their asylum case in a US federal court, and his attorney has said the experience has left lasting psychological damage.