They noted on social media that Balogun is only eligible to play for the U.S. men’s national team because he is a birthright citizen, after an airline in 2001 denied his British citizen mother from boarding a flight home because she was too close to giving birth to him and then she gave birth in Brooklyn.
The constitutional right that Balogun enjoys is the very same one that Trump has spent years trying to end and whose attempts to do so were struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court last week.
Balogun, who plays club soccer for Monaco in France’s Ligue 1, was sent off during the United States’ round of 32 victory over Bosnia-Herzegovina, triggering an automatic one-match suspension.
FIFA announced on Sunday that the suspension had been overturned.
“Thank you to FIFA for doing what was right, and reversing a great injustice!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
While Balogun’s reincorporation into the team was celebrated by many, critics pointed out the hypocrisy of Trump’s move and also suggested that America’s run in the competition has now been tainted.