FIFA president Gianni Infantino and people around him sought help from contacts in the Trump administration after the work authorization of his Nicaraguan housekeeper, Yajarlin del Socorro Fernandez, was revoked, according to sources cited by the New York Post. Leaked documents and sources cited by the outlet say Fernandez worked full-time for FIFA (Americas), Inc. from August 2024 through October 2025, and that the company continued paying her for months after her federal work authorization lapsed.
A Nicaraguan Housekeeper, a Miami Penthouse, and a Revoked Permit
The claims were first reported by the New York Post, which wrote that Fernandez was recruited by Infantino's wife, Leena, before she received an initial work permit, according to two sources. Fernandez was registered at an address in Miami's Allapattah neighborhood, according to sources and internal documents cited by the outlet, while Infantino himself resides at One Thousand Museum on Biscayne Boulevard, the Zaha Hadid-designed tower where David Beckham once sold a penthouse for just under $25 million.
Fernandez initially had temporary permission to work, which was later revoked, the Post reported. The Supreme Court's May 30, 2025 order allowed the Trump administration to proceed with ending the four-country humanitarian parole program; DHS notified participants on June 12 that their permission to live and work in the United States had been revoked. The Post, citing its sources, reported that Fernandez faced an interview with federal immigration officers in fall 2025.
Cordeiro's Alleged Role and a Miami Address
Sources familiar with the discussions told the Post that Infantino asked longtime FIFA adviser Carlos Cordeiro to use his government contacts to help Fernandez obtain new immigration authorization. Three sources told the outlet that Cordeiro coordinated the effort at Infantino's request. Insiders also told the Post that in May 2024, Cordeiro directed a subordinate to put Cordeiro's Miami rental address on Fernandez's immigration filings, rather than the address where she actually lived and worked. Cordeiro declined to address his alleged role in the filings when approached by the Post.
Cordeiro's government connections are documented separately from the alleged intervention in Fernandez's case. The Athletic reported that he represented FIFA on the U.S. government's task force for the 2026 World Cup. The Post reported that Trump appointed Cordeiro a senior adviser to the White House World Cup task force in May 2025, a body that included Kristi Noem and operated out of DHS. A DHS photo listing identifies Cordeiro as an adviser to the FIFA president at DHS headquarters in Washington on May 1, 2025; that listing does not independently confirm any role in Fernandez's case.
New Permit Issued Under Noem's DHS
The Post reported that DHS issued Fernandez a new C11 parole work authorization in January 2026, after her earlier authorization lapsed. The report cited USCIS guidance saying C11 work permits are mostly reserved for people escaping war zones, such as Ukrainians, or immediate family members of U.S. military troops. DHS and USCIS did not respond to the Post's questions about Cordeiro's alleged intervention or Fernandez's new authorization.
Immigration attorney Michael Wildes told the Post that Fernandez's employment became unauthorized once the parole program was scrapped, and said the early-2026 issuance of her new C11 permit suggested she may have received preferential treatment. He added that ordinary noncitizens have virtually no chance of receiving the re-parole and new work permit Fernandez obtained. Federal law, under 8 U.S.C. § 1324a, makes it unlawful to continue employing a worker while knowing that person has become unauthorized for that employment. The available evidence does not establish how that provision applies to Fernandez's case.
What the federal rules establish
USCIS says people in the CHNV parole programs were granted parole for up to two years, depending on when they entered the United States. The agency said the Supreme Court's May 30, 2025 order lifted a lower-court injunction and allowed DHS to proceed with terminating CHNV parole and revoking work authorization based on that parole. The cited USCIS guidance does not state how many people participated, and the program-wide ruling does not establish Fernandez's individual status. See USCIS guidance on CHNV parole and its update on the Supreme Court order. USCIS's employer handbook says employers must reverify an employee's work authorization no later than its expiration date and cannot continue employing someone who does not provide proof of current authorization. The general rule describes an employer's reverification duty; by itself, it does not establish what happened in Fernandez's case. See the USCIS Handbook for Employers.
Internal Warnings and a Payroll That Kept Running
Sources familiar with the matter told the Post that Infantino kept Fernandez on FIFA's corporate payroll despite internal warnings. One FIFA insider is quoted as warning, “You cannot keep paying her through us, because she's going to get deported.” FIFA did not respond to the Post's detailed questions. The company is registered in Delaware as FIFA (Americas), Inc.; Florida state records list Mattias Grafström and Emilio Garcia Silvero as its directors.
The housekeeper controversy surfaces amid a separate, and far larger, upheaval inside FIFA's business dealings. FIFA had considered a subsidiary valued at $20 billion that would sell a minority stake to private investors led by Thrive Capital, and, per The Athletic, the governing body ultimately proposed selling a 20% stake in a new entity called FIFA Forward Enterprises to an investor group led by Thrive Eternal for $4.2 billion before scrapping the commercial-operations privatization deal in July 2026. UEFA threatened a total boycott of FIFA competitions over the plan, and the continental body filed discovery actions in U.S. federal courts seeking internal pitch decks tied to the deal, according to the Post's reporting.
Cordeiro's Resignation Fueled the Privatization Fallout
Cordeiro resigned as Infantino's senior adviser specifically over FIFA's plans to sell stakes in the World Cup to private investors, The Athletic reported, with Cordeiro stating, “I had no involvement in this proposal, and I oppose it unequivocally.” A later Athletic report said Infantino announced he was pulling the plug on the FIFA Forward Enterprise proposal, though the move did not satisfy his fiercest critics. FIFA's chief operating officer separately told the Associated Press, in a statement reported by The Washington Post, that staff had been deceived by the sell-off plan and suggested the project must not go ahead.
President Trump, for his part, told NOTUS he had never spoken with Infantino about the private-investment proposal, saying simply, “No, I never spoke to him.” Reuters has reported that FIFA would release some key documents linked to the controversy, while sources say the organization will require senior soccer officials to sign non-disclosure agreements to prevent further documents from leaking to media.
A President Who Vowed to Clean House
Infantino became FIFA president in 2016 after vowing to clean up the governing body, which had ascended to global soccer's governing role following the 2015 U.S. corruption indictments that toppled Sepp Blatter's regime, issued by the U.S. Department of Justice. He now faces a FIFA presidential election in March 2027, a vote that will unfold against the backdrop of both the stake-sale controversy and the fresh allegations surrounding his housekeeper's immigration case.
