Puerto Rican singer Dangerous Bunny performing onstage in San Juan on July 11 through the first evening of his 30-show residency in Puerto Rico.
Ricardo Arduengo/AFP by way of Getty Photographs
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Ricardo Arduengo/AFP by way of Getty Photographs
In an interview with I-D journal earlier this month, megastar Puerto Rican singer and rapper Dangerous Bunny stated he selected to not do any live performance dates within the 50 states throughout his present world tour, as a result of he is afraid that ICE, as he stated, “could possibly be outdoors my live performance.” As a substitute, he did 30 exhibits in Puerto Rico, which reportedly introduced lots of of tens of millions of tourism {dollars} to the island.
As a Puerto Rican, Dangerous Bunny is, after all, a U.S. citizen. Performers from different nations are dealing with extra points — notably hurdles in securing visas.
Performers, occasion presenters, reserving brokers and attorneys inform NPR that they’re coping with loads of uncertainty proper now – and so they have been very hesitant to talk on the file. They concern retaliation, together with by those that maintain decision-making energy over visa approvals or from those that maintain monetary sway, as a result of they management state, native or non-public funding.
Dangerous Bunny publicly expressed issues that his Latino followers can be focused for ICE enforcement. What does the Division of Homeland Safety say?
In a written assertion to NPR Thursday, assistant DHS secretary Tricia McLaughlin wrote:
“Dangerous Bunny is both significantly misinformed about ICE operations or is utilizing legislation enforcement as an excuse as a result of he will not have the ability to promote tickets in the US. ICE will not be raiding live performance venues. Pop stars selecting to fearmonger and demonize ICE legislation enforcement are contributing to the almost 1,000% enhance in assaults on ICE officers. If Sabrina Carpenter and Tate McRae are occurring tour, so can he.”
The Division of Homeland Safety has not offered additional particulars or proof about these assault claims; in July, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem outlined violence in opposition to ICE officers as together with doxxing brokers and videotaping officers.
Are different performers expressing comparable issues?
Folks within the leisure and the humanities industries say they proceed to be involved. In July, neighborhood leaders and native officers in Chicago accused federal brokers of focusing on attendees on the Nationwide Museum of Puerto Rican Arts & Tradition, and shared video of ICE brokers at their museum. The Division of Homeland Safety denied these accusations on the time. Regardless, people working in tradition and leisure are fearful about comparable conditions probably occurring at their occasions.
What about international artists who need to come to the US?
Overseas guests coming to the U.S. as entertainers have to have a particular sort of work visa, and a few artists and presenters have had dates canceled or delayed because of visa points. Earlier this month, the Korean boy band Be:Max was pressured to cancel U.S. tour dates, saying that their visas had been canceled near their deliberate appearances. (NPR reached out repeatedly to Be:Max and their live performance promoters, however didn’t obtain any replies.) In July, the duo TwoSet Violin postponed plenty of U.S. dates when its member Brett Yang, an Australian violinist, had his preliminary visa software rejected.
However there at the moment are new monetary and logistical hurdles to beat within the technique of getting a visa. Earlier this month, the State Division introduced that candidates must return to their nation of nationality or full-time residency to use for visas to go to the U.S. And that creates massive, costly problems for performers who earn their cash touring the world.
What does this imply for artists?
Here is a hypothetical instance: Say a performer initially from India needs to use to return do a tour within the U.S. — however they’re quickly working in Belgium. It was that they might go to the U.S. consulate in Belgium for his or her U.S. visa interview. The State Division is now saying no, they must fly residence to India to use and be interviewed there. That prices some huge cash and time, particularly for touring teams with massive bands and crews. As it’s, visa purposes can price upwards of $8,000 per particular person, together with authorized charges.
NPR reached out to the State Division for remark, which stated that they’re “upholding the very best requirements of nationwide safety and public security by our visa course of.”
So how lengthy does the visa course of take?
As of proper now, the federal government’s web site estimates that for the varieties of visas visiting performers usually use (O and P class visas), it would take seven months. Immigration attorneys inform NPR that seven months is an optimistic estimate — and are advising their shoppers to count on the method to take even longer. So if an artist needs to return carry out within the U.S. in Sept. 2026, they’d finest get transferring. And that’s going to have an effect on which touring artists could in the end determine to decide like Dangerous Bunny and say, “Given the present circumstances, by no means thoughts. We’ll simply skip the US for now.”
Jennifer Vanasco edited this story for broadcast and digital.
