Argentina’s Ministry of National Security is coordinating a joint operation with U.S. and British agencies to strengthen security inside and outside Atlanta Stadium, where the match between England and Argentina was to be be played Wednesday Photo by Ronald Wiotek/EPA
July 15 (UPI) — Argentina has strengthened cooperation with U.S. authorities to implement its stadium access control system for the World Cup semifinal match Wednesday against England in Atlanta.
The system allows officials to identify people banned from attending soccer matches, including members of violent fan groups and thousands of child support debtors.
The Ministry of National Security is coordinating a joint operation with U.S. and British agencies to strengthen security inside and outside Atlanta Stadium, where the match was to be played.
The operation includes meetings with the FBI and Georgia State Police, as well as an increased presence of law enforcement officers and private security personnel at stadium entrances, the ministry said.
National Security Secretary Alejandra Monteoliva said in a video posted on X that Argentina’s National Registry of Individuals Banned from Stadiums has already been made available to U.S. authorities to assist with the operation.
“Soccer belongs to families and true fans, and we do not want violent people representing us anywhere in the world,” she said.
The Argentine government previously provided U.S. authorities with a database that contains the names of some 35,000 people subject to stadium bans. The information-sharing system allows U.S. authorities to identify those prohibited from entering soccer stadiums in Argentina, although the final decision on entry into the United States stadiums to matches rests exclusively with U.S. authorities.
The operation also incorporates the “Alerta Halcón” system, which works alongside the National Directorate of Migration and detects when a person subject to a stadium ban leaves Argentina. That information is transmitted in real time to Argentine officials in the United States, who share it with local authorities for case-by-case evaluation.
The mechanism is part of the Tribuna Segura program, created by the Argentine government in 2016 to prevent people considered a security risk because of previous violence at sporting events from entering stadiums.
The registry primarily includes members of barras bravas, the term used in Argentina for organized soccer supporter groups historically associated with violence inside and outside stadiums.
The system operates through a national database that is checked whenever a spectator presents an identity document to enter a stadium. If the individual is listed as subject to an active restriction, entry is automatically denied.
In May, the national government expanded the scope of Tribuna Segura by incorporating information from child support debtor registries in Buenos Aires and 13 provinces as part of an agreement to extend restrictions already in force in different jurisdictions, the Buenos Aires Herald reported.
Also, about 13,000 of the roughly 35,000 people in the database are parents who failed to meet child support obligations.
Authorities said, however, that not every late payment results in a stadium ban. To be added to the registry, a person must go through judicial proceedings for failing to comply with child support obligations and become subject to measures ordered by a judge, which may include a ban on attending sporting events.
The Argentine government said the inclusion of child support debtors is intended to encourage compliance with obligations toward children by restricting access to recreational activities.
According to the latest report by UNICEF Argentina, 56% of mothers whose children do not live with their father receive no child support, and that figure rises to 68% when those who receive irregular payments are included.
“Failure to pay child support constitutes a violation of children’s rights, with tangible effects on their living conditions,” Carolina Aulicino, social policy officer at UNICEF Argentina, said while presenting the report.
Experts cited by the Buenos Aires Herald said the measure has strong symbolic value because it seeks to encourage debtors to regularize their situation, although they argued it should be accompanied by reforms to speed up access to the courts and facilitate the effective collection of child support payments.