Jun. 16, 2026, 10:27 PM EDT<\/time><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries<\/a> is rallying support within the State Department to help secure a visa for the mother of a World Cup<\/a> goalkeeper who was unable to attend her newly-famous son’s match in the United States.<\/p>\n

Jeffries learned of the situation after Republic of Cabo Verde goalkeeper Josimar Dias helped his team secure a 0-0 draw with Spain<\/a> during the island nation’s World Cup debut on Monday. Dias stunned fans after making seven saves against the 2010 World Cup champions.<\/p>\n

Dias told ESPN<\/a> that his mother was unable to attend the match in the U.S. because of difficulties obtaining a visa.<\/p>\n

“She didn’t manage to be here because of the visa,” Dias said in press conference after the match, noting that the World Cup was the “most important moment of our lives.”<\/p>\n

“The money we have to pay for the visa, we didn’t manage on time. And I would like her to be here,” the goalie said.<\/p>\n

After learning of Dias’ story, Jeffries said he reached out to Secretary of State Marco Rubio in hopes of helping the goalie’s mother attend Cabo Verde’s the next match in the U.S.<\/p>\n

“No mother should miss the chance to see her child make history,” Jeffries wrote on X.<\/p>\n

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The Cabo Verde national football team shocked Spain on the strength of a historic performance by goalkeeper Vozinha.<\/p>\n
His Mom was unable to be there because of visa complications.<\/p>\n
No mother should miss the chance to see her child make history.<\/p>\n
I have asked Secretary of State…<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
— Hakeem Jeffries (@RepJeffries) June 16, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
In an effort to prevent visitors from overstaying their visas, the U.S. State Department requires<\/a> that eligible travelers from certain countries, including Cabo Verde, “must post a bond for $5,000, $10,000, or $15,000.”<\/p>\n
The Department said that it will waive those visa bond requirements during the 2026 World Cup for “athletes and team members — including coaches, persons performing a necessary support role, and immediate relatives — who are nationals of countries that are competing,” provided that they meet all visa requirements.<\/p>\n
While Dias suggested money was a factor for his mother’s inability to attend the match, a State Department official told MS NOW that it has no record of her applying for one. The official said all relatives of players are eligible for visa bond waivers, and said the State Department is attempting to help with the matter. <\/p>\n
Dias, known to fans as Vozinha, is significantly older than most players at 40 years old. Nevertheless, he was named FIFA’s “player of the match<\/a>.” <\/p>\n
After his standout World Cup performance, his following on his Instagram page grew<\/a> from about 10,000 before Monday’s game to more than 10.5 million by Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Cabo Verde’s next match is against Uruguay in Miami on Sunday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Erum Salam is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW, with a focus on how global events and foreign policy shape U.S. politics. She previously was a breaking news reporter for The Guardian.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n
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Jun. 16, 2026, 10:27 PM EDT House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries is rallying support within the State Department to help secure a visa for the mother of a World Cup goalkeeper who was unable to attend her newly-famous son’s match in the United States. Jeffries learned of the situation after Republic of Cabo Verde goalkeeper Josimar […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24426,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trump"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24425","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24425"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24425\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}