An unintended consequence of US immigration policy: Some fans are skipping the World Cup in the US | CNN

Steve Schwarzbach has attended every World Cup event since 2006. He had no apprehensions about attending the games in countries such as South Africa and Brazil which can have a reputation — fairly or not — of being dangerous for tourists. Given the scale of the international event, he trusted that local police would protect World Cup visitors like himself. “In South Africa and Brazil, I felt very safe because they had so many police, army and security that I didn’t have any fears of going out,” Schwarzbach tells CNN Travel. But this year, the German national has made the conscious decision to boycott the games in the United States. Of all the host countries over the last two decades, the Frankfurt resident said he is most fearful about the prospect of traveling to the US. “You see the ICE people going around and just pulling people from the streets just because they look foreign and you don’t get the feeling that anybody would protect me, you know?” he says. Schwarzbach is also half Korean and half German, a profile he fears could make him a target. “I look more Asian than German,” he said. “I wouldn’t feel safe.” As a Participating Member Association (PMA