U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement will not be seen at World Cup matches this summer, according to the co-chair of the Miami host committee.

Rodney Barreto told The Athletic on Thursday that he received reassurances from Secretary of State Marco Rubio that ICE would steer clear of the world soccer showcase.

“ICE is not going to be at the stadium,” Barreto told The Athletic. “This is not going to turn into some ‘round them up’ type of thing. That’s not the purpose of this.

“It’ll be a great experience for everybody. I think that we’re lucky that we do have a president who loves sports and has given us the resources to reimburse the cities for their police protection.”

Barreto added, “I spoke to Marco and, first of all, he’s going to make sure that the passports get processed and people can get here and there is an orderly process so people won’t be held up. It’s going to be a major undertaking by the federal government to do that. We feel very comfortable that we’re going to be in good hands.”

The deployment of ICE for immigration-enforcement raids has increased since Donald Trump began his second stint as president last year, igniting a significant political debate in the U.S.

South Florida’s role as a World Cup host market also comes against the backdrop of scenes from the 2024 Copa America championship game, when fans stormed the gates at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla., causing a number of injuries and delaying the start of the Argentina-Colombia match.

“(The Miami World Cup organizing committee) took the position that we didn’t want to be critical of the planners of that event,” Barreto told The Athletic. “It wasn’t our event. But now that time has passed, I would tell you that where the failure was, which was that there were no perimeters.

“People without tickets should have been nowhere near the entrance ways of that stadium. It didn’t take much to overrun an entrance. But listen, you learn from all these events, and you learn to do it better and come up with different scenarios which mitigate this from happening in the future. So that’s where we’re at.”

–Field Level Media

Cade Cunningham scored 25 points, including 12 in the fourth quarter, and had 10 assists on Thursday, leading the Detroit Pistons to a 107-97 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers and a 2-0 lead in their Eastern Conference semifinal series.

Tobias Harris added 21 points, Duncan Robinson put up 17 points and Daniss Jenkins contributed 14 for the Pistons, who also won the opener of the best-of-seven set by 10 points on Tuesday.

Donovan Mitchell poured in 31 points and Jarrett Allen added 22 points and seven rebounds for the Cavaliers, who hit only 7 of 32 3-point attempts (21.9%).

Game 3 is Saturday afternoon in Cleveland.

The Cavaliers made three of their first five shots at the start of the fourth quarter to go up 81-79, their first lead since they scored the first basket of the game. The Pistons responded with a 10-2 run, capped by a Robinson 3-pointer, to regain control.

Cleveland, which missed all 11 of its 3-point attempts in the final period, could get no closer than three points as Cunningham helped Detroit pulled away.

The Cavaliers committed 20 turnovers in Game 1, and the problem persisted early in Game 2, when Cleveland struggled to handle Detroit’s physical defense. The Pistons used an 11-3 run late in the period to push their lead to 11 points on a Jenkins hoop. Detroit controlled the tempo and energy on both ends to take a 25-18 lead after one.

Mitchell opened the second quarter with a basket that pulled Cleveland within five, but the Cavaliers never could fully capitalize against Detroit’s physical defense. The Cavaliers also missed several open 3-point looks that could have shifted momentum. Detroit pushed its lead to as many as 14 points on a Robinson trey with 1:21 left in the quarter and carried a 54-43 advantage into halftime.

Cleveland seized control in the third quarter by ramping up its defensive pressure and finally finding a rhythm offensively. Mitchell sparked the turnaround with 11 points. The Cavaliers steadily chipped away at the deficit and pulled within 76-75 on James Harden’s pull-up jumper with 17.5 seconds remaining, but Jenkins’ 30-foot 3-pointer ended the period and put Detroit up by four.

Veteran Cleveland guard Sam Merrill missed the game because of a left hamstring injury. Detroit’s Kevin Huerter missed his fifth consecutive game due to a left adductor strain.

–Field Level Media

Chandler Simpson went 2-for-2 with three RBIs off the bench, leading the visiting Tampa Bay Rays to an 8-4 win over the Boston Red Sox in the opener of their four-game series on Thursday night.

Simpson entered the game in the sixth inning and immediately knocked a go-ahead, two-run single. He then provided a key insurance run on an RBI triple in his next at-bat in the eighth.

Tampa Bay pounded out 13 hits and Hunter Bigge (1-0) worked two no-hit innings in relief of fellow right-hander Griffin Jax en route to the Rays’ seventh straight win.

Five Rays finished with multiple knocks, including Yandy Diaz (1,000th career hit) and Junior Caminero (two-run home run), who joined the list in the final inning.

However, the Rays had their streak of allowing three runs or fewer snapped after 13 consecutive games when Jarren Duran doubled and scored on a Wilyer Abreu sacrifice fly in the eighth.

The Rays blitzed Boston left-hander Jake Bennett (1-1) for three second-inning runs, as five straight baserunners reached with one out with Ben Williamson and Cedric Mullins providing RBI singles before Diaz’s sacrifice fly made it 3-0.

The Red Sox responded quickly to tie the game in the bottom of the inning, which began with Trevor Story beating out an infield single. Story then swiped second, and Ceddanne Rafaela stung an RBI single into left two batters later.

A misplay on Connor Wong’s potential double-play ball plated another run, and Caleb Durbin knocked in the tying run on a single to right.

Bennett faced the minimum across the next three innings, but after he exited, Simpson’s two-run single off Greg Weissert put the Rays back ahead.

In the eighth, Williamson’s one-out bunt single set the table for Simpson’s RBI triple into deep right.

Abreu’s sac fly cut the Boston deficit to 6-4, but the inning was limited with Willson Contreras being thrown out attempting to advance on a relay.

After Diaz’s milestone ground-rule double, Caminero crushed his 10th homer into the center-field bleachers to conclude the scoring.

–Field Level Media