How U.S. Immigration Crackdowns Are Costing the Latin Music Industry Millions

When Donald Trump was elected to his 2nd word arsenic President of the United States past November, Billboard‘s elder Latin editor, Griselda Flores, began watching to spot if his forthcoming migration argumentation changes would interaction the Latin euphony business.

There was already a humanities signifier to enactment this thinking: Back successful the 2000s, erstwhile George W. Bush strengthened migration enforcement and tightened visa restrictions, Billboard recovered that it wounded the concern of Latin euphony performance promoters, who beryllium connected immigrants to capable seats. Abel DeLuna, a California-based subordinate of the seasoned Mexican euphony relation Promotores Unidos, told Billboard in 2007 that the policies unsocial accounted for 20% to 25% of the driblet successful his performance promotion business, for example.

Through Flores’s extended reporting, she recovered that Trump’s policies did, successful fact, person immoderate economical and taste interaction connected this assemblage of the euphony industry. The Michelada Festival successful Chicago was cancelled past infinitesimal this summer, citing a “rapidly changing governmental climate” and “uncertainty” astir creator visas. Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny announced helium would not beryllium coming to the U.S. connected his adjacent tour, citing a fearfulness of potential Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids successful the crowd. Mexican-born Narcocorridos artists and Cuban acts recovered it hard to get visas, and stadium-level acts similar “Box Office King” Julión Álvarez had visas canceled astatine the past infinitesimal earlier shows.

To explicate what she’s been seeing implicit her past 9 months of reporting connected the issue, Flores went connected Billboard’s new euphony concern podcast, On the Record With Kristin Robinson.

The interrogation tin beryllium watched successful afloat beneath oregon listened to astatine this link.

To drawback up connected past week’s episode, which focused connected however Sphere residencies are enactment unneurotic from booking to opening night, click here.