President Donald Trump said Wednesday that his administration wants to make sure everyone attending the FIFA World Cup is properly vetted, The Hill reported.

"We're working on it very closely to make sure the right people come into our country," Trump said while speaking to reporters in the Oval Office.

The president also said he would be attending a World Cup match.

Trump's comments come after Omar Artan, a World Cup referee from Somalia, was denied entry at Miami International Airport on Saturday over "vetting concerns," U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in a statement without giving details of those concerns. FIFA subsequently cut him from the tournament's referee list.

Artan was set to be the first referee from Somalia to officiate at a World Cup after making FIFA's final list for the tournament. He is one of Africa's top referees and was named the continent's best male referee in 2025.

He was issued a visa to travel to the U.S. last week, according to the Somali Embassy in Kenya that processed it.

"I promise you, God willing, that I will attend the next one," Artan said as hundreds of supporters at the airport waved the Somali flag. "I want the Somali public to take comfort in this and remain confident."

Andrew Giuliani, the executive director of the White House FIFA Task Force, said Tuesday the referee was denied admittance for "very good reason" but also declined to go into details.

Later Tuesday, a U.S. official said the referee was refused admission due to "association with suspected members of terror organizations." The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a matter that is covered by visa privacy laws.

Artan told The New York Times he was interviewed at Miami airport for 11 hours by border officials, who asked him why he'd traveled to the U.S. and questioned him about Somali politics and the al-Shabab militant group that is fighting an insurgency against the government there. He showed them FIFA documentation and photos from his refereeing career, he said.

After the questioning, he was put in a holding cell and sent back on a plane to Istanbul, from where he'd taken his connecting flight to the U.S.

"I think that they have a problem with my country," Artan told the Times, adding he had the correct documents and visa. He said he wasn't told why he was refused entry, according to the Times.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.