Aggressive immigration enforcement makes musicians rethink U.S. tours

Bells Larsen's new album had been four years in the making, and he was preparing for his first U.S. tour when his plans came to an abrupt halt.

The Canadian singer-songwriter began writing Blurring Time in 2021 as a way to process questions about his gender identity. Once he decided to transition, he recorded the tracks in his pre-testosterone voice and again after his voice deepened, harmonizing with the past version of himself.

Blurring Time puts words to a trans experience rarely represented in the media, of the vulnerability of facing the unknown in the quest to live authentically. It resonated with fans, and Larsen began to plan his headlining tour, with dates in New York, Boston, Los Angeles and San Francisco, among other U.S. cities.

In late March, Larsen got an email from the American Federation of Musicians, a labor union that represents artists from the U.S. and Canada. The AFM pointed to an April 2 policy update from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the government agency that artists must petition for a work visa. The policy states that USCIS only recognizes two "biological sexes, male and female," as assigned at birth. After seeking legal advice, Larsen, who had already changed his gender marker on his passport, came to the conclusion that he had no choice but to cancel his tour.

"It's really heartbreaking," he says.

Larsen isn't the only international musician who recently canceled a U.S. tour at a time when aggressive immigration enforcement has put travelers on edge. In this rapidly evolving climate of anxiety and uncertainty, some international musicians are deciding that going through the complicated process of getting a U.S. artist visa may not be worth the financial and safety risks.

When President Trump took office for his second term, he vowed to carry out the largest deportation campaign in U.S. history. Over three months into his presidency, his administration's crackdowns have ensnared not just immigrants without legal status, but permanent residents, international students, visa holders and tourists alike, and Trump has said that U.S. citizens could be up next for deportation.

At least five international students were locked up in ICE detention in recent months after protesting Israel's ongoing war in Gaza, alarming free speech advocates. Two have since been released and two left the U.S. A French scientist claimed that he was denied entry into the U.S. after Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials found texts on his phone criticizing Trump. In a statement to NPR, CBP called the scientist's claims "blatantly false," and alleged he was removed because he possessed confidential information in violation of a nondisclosure agreement. Reports such as these have only stoked fear.

Countries including Canada and Germany recently updated their U.S. travel advisories after several of their citizens were sent to detention centers with inhumane conditions for weeks at a time because of alleged visa violations.

"I don't think anybody is really looking forward to going into the States right now," says German drummer and booking agent Alex Bernath of Alexander Agency. "I'm like, OK, I am going to wait this out until further notice. Because it has been hard already, and now it seems really impossible, almost."

In its statement to NPR, CBP said that because there has been a decline in illegal immigration under Trump, officers now have more capacity to vet and interview people at U.S. ports of entry. "If statutes or visa terms are violated, travelers may be subject to detention and removal," the statement reads. "A visa is a privilege, not a right, and only those who respect our laws and follow the proper procedures will be welcomed."

New York immigration attorney Matthew Covey says that while he hasn't seen the U.S. government target international artists specifically, reports of "unprecedented I.C.E. enforcement" are prompting dozens of artists to bow out of U.S. tours and reconsider prioritizing the U.S. market. His firm, CoveyLaw, assists thousands of international artists each year.

"[They're] deciding, 'You know what? I think I'm not going to do this tour this year. I think I'm going to stay in my home country, or I'm going to tour in Latin America, or I am going to go to Asia,' " says Covey, who also is the executive director of Tamizdat, a nonprofit that advocates for international cultural exchange.

Several European artists, including German violinist Christian Tetzlaff and pianist Schaghajegh Nosrati, canceled U.S. tours out of concerns about the country's political climate, citing Donald Trump's far-right policies and pressure on academic and cultural institutions. Even Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Neil Young, who was born in Canada and became a U.S. citizen in 2020, expressed concern that he would have to cancel his upcoming American tour in August if he were barred from re-entering the country because of his criticisms of the president.

"That is happening all the time now," Young wrote on his website in April. "Countries have new advice for those returning to America. That's right folks, if you say anything bad about Trump or his administration, you may be barred from re-entering USA."

Monse Muro /

But difficulties for international artists didn't begin with Trump. Historically, the U.S. has been a much less friendly place to tour compared to other countries including Canada and much of Europe, which have lowered barriers for international artists because of the economic stimulus they bring. An American artist can perform in Canada, for instance, without a work permit if they stay for less than two weeks.

In contrast, "the [U.S.] artist visa process for several generations has been a really expensive, incredibly slow and complex process, which has been an impediment to cultural exchange and cultural commerce in the U.S.," says Covey. "It's always sort of getting a little bit worse."

In order to tour in the U.S., most artists need to secure an O or P visa. To apply, a sponsor, such as a booking agent, must file a petition to USCIS with evidence of the artist's cultural uniqueness or international renown, including past and future bookings, press clippings, awards and testimonial letters, plus contracts and an itinerary for their U.S. tour. Assembling this documentation can often take more than a month.

After the artist secures a consultation letter from the AFM or another qualifying union, their sponsor can file the petition. Once approved, with some exceptions, most artists must complete a consular interview at a U.S. embassy. Adding together filing fees and legal costs, the whole process can easily cost $10,000.

"[Since] the last year of the Biden administration, delays in the processing of the petitions has become so extreme and unpredictable that when an artist is planning to do a tour in the U.S., they have to be prepared to pay a [close to] $3,000 expediting fee, which was not the case before," Covey says.

British experimental pop star FKA Twigs shared on Instagram in March that she canceled her U.S. tour just weeks ahead of Coachella because her crew didn't fill out their visa applications far enough ahead of time. Grzegorz Kwiatkowski, lead singer of Polish rock band Trupa Trupa, says his expedited application took six months to approve for his most recent U.S. tour, forcing the band to miss out on performance opportunities.

"It was always for us like kind of a mission impossible, really," he says. "It was like challenge after challenge, problem after problem. … But it's worth it, we love American culture."

Industry experts say artists from Africa, Latin America and the Arab world are often subjected to additional questioning and paperwork at U.S. embassies, which can result in further delays for their visas, and more potential for canceled shows and lost income. In March, Reuters reported on an internal White House memo that lists 41 countries slated for possible travel bans, most of which are in the Global South.

Once the visa is finally approved, Customs and Border Protection agents have the final say on whether or not the artist can enter the country.

"It's not guaranteed that just because they have visas and have arrived here that they'll be permitted to enter the U.S.," says Bill Smith, a Bay Area booking agent who has worked with international artists for over 25 years through his company Riot Artists. "And of course, a lot of artists are concerned for themselves and also for their families should the worst occur."

"Under the Trump administration, with different policy changes and directives, I think it's fair to say that some individual immigration officers may take liberties with the latitude that they have," says Allistair Elliott, AFM's vice president from Canada, adding that his organization lobbies governments on both sides of the border to make things easier for artists.

CBP did not answer NPR's questions about how much authority individual officers have to deny entry to or detain a visa holder, or what determines whether a traveler suspected of a violation is sent to ICE detention instead of simply being sent home.

Although none of Smith's clients have had trouble entering the U.S. this year thus far, he is concerned about how current policies may affect his artists. To bring one group out, "I've got to front more than $10,000, and that's without knowing if they're going to get the visas, which cost about half of that amount," he says. "So it's very possible to spend that amount on hotels, flights and visa petitions, and have the visa denied."

Those upfront costs aren't the only financial deterrent for international artists. In most cases, the IRS collects a 30% tax on their gross income from their American shows. And touring in the U.S. is notoriously expensive. Aside from the upper echelon of the music industry, even American acts continue to struggle to break even because of rising costs and inconsistent crowds in the aftermath of the pandemic.

"You go to the U.S. and you have a great time, but you get paid in pizza and you sleep on somebody's floor. As opposed to other parts of the world where you actually get paid and you get a hotel room," says Covey. "You have to have a really clear strategy about how this is gonna be economically important to your career to make it worth it."

"My goal as I started out as a musician was always, 'OK, I gotta tour in the States, that's the biggest thing,' " says Bernath. "As I've grown more and more into the music business I've realized that, actually, in Europe ... it's easier to get something happening, to make money playing music and to reach an audience."

Rafał Wojczal /

Perhaps unsurprisingly, over a dozen international artists NPR contacted through their publicists didn't respond to a request for comment, and one declined out of fear of being targeted by the U.S. government.

Trupa Trupa's Kwiatkowski, who is also a Holocaust scholar and Yale University artist-in-residence, says he's determined to keep performing in the U.S. He believes cross-cultural connection is even more essential as the country takes a far-right turn. "My activism, Trupa Trupa music, is not only about political terror and fascism, but it's also about beauty," he says. "And I think that the beauty and art is giving people hope."

Although CBP policy states that the agency doesn't retaliate against travelers for political beliefs, some artists with plans to tour in the U.S. have been careful not to post anything online that appears critical of the U.S. government. Others who have opted to continue with tours have taken extra precautions when it comes to digital privacy. Border officials have the right to look through travelers' cell phones, computers and cameras; if they decide an "advanced search" is warranted, they can copy the data.

"Two of us got new phones just to not take in our usual phones, in case they got confiscated or searched through," said Dick Lucas of the U.K. punk band Subhumans, who went on a short U.S. tour in April.

In its monthly update from March, CBP denied that electronic media searches have gone up during the Trump administration. But the prospect of having to self-police one's speech, even in private conversations, in case of a phone search is a concern Bells Larsen, the Canadian singer-songwriter, has heard a lot among peers in the Toronto and Montreal music scenes. "No one wants to have to think about the kind of texts that they're sending out of fear of being turned away," says Larsen. "No one wants to have to compromise their values, or their ethics, or their online persona, just to be able to travel, whether to work or just for leisure."

For Canadians, breaking into the U.S. market is a key step to greater opportunities beyond their country's comparatively smaller music scene. Larsen is heartbroken that he and other trans artists will face greater barriers in doing so over the next four years.

"We are real people with real stories to tell through our art, which is meaningful and important and our voices have to be heard," he says. "So it's just completely devastating."

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