Bad Bunny has said he has left the United States off his tour schedule because he is afraid that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement would be lurking outside his concerts.
In an interview with i-D, Benito Ocasio, 31, better known by his stage name Bad Bunny, defended his decision to skip the United States during his world tour for his sixth album, Debí Tirar Más Fotos.
“There were many reasons why I didn’t show up in the U.S., and none of them were out of hate—I’ve performed there many times,” he told music reporter Suzy Exposito.
As the Latin music world’s biggest artist, Ocasio says he felt he couldn’t risk putting his fans in danger. “There was the issue of—like, f---ing ICE could be outside [my concert]. And it’s something that we were talking about and very concerned about.”
“All of [the shows] have been successful. All of them have been magnificent. I’ve enjoyed connecting with Latinos who have been living in the U.S.,” he said. “People from the U.S. could come [to Puerto Rico] to see the show.”
This year, the Trump administration’s increasingly aggressive deportation raids have spooked Latinos into clamping down on visible gatherings. This summer, Mexican heritage celebrations in Chicago; Philadelphia’s Mexican festival, Carnaval de Puebla; and Los Angeles’ Guatemalan celebration festival, Festival Chapín, have been canceled due to concerns that they would become targets of ICE raids, The Guardian reported.
“The first thing we want is the security of the people.” Walter Rosales, one of the organizers of Festival Chapín, told the outlet.
It’s not just cultural events either—according to The Guardian, fear of ICE raids has caused the cancellation of soccer watch parties and, in one case, a church congregation in the majority-Latino California city of San Bernardino.
Ocasio, who often uses his platform to make progressive political statements, has publicly spoken out against ICE. In June, the artist posted footage of an ICE arrest on his Instagram story: “Look, those motherf-----s are in these cars, RAV-4s,” he said, “They’re here in Pontezuela. Sons of b-----s, instead of leaving the people alone and working there.”
Due to high demand, Ocasio added additional shows to his world tour, resulting in a whopping 45-show count from November 2025 to July 2026.
