Neil Young has shared his concerns of being barred from the US after his European tour later this year, thanks to his outspoken critiques of Donald Trump.
On Tuesday, on his website Neil Young Archives, the 79-year-old musician – who has dual Canadian-American citizenship – wrote of his fears after the recent spate of people being detained and deported upon entering the US. These incidents have been credited to vague or unspecified visa issues, but have frequently affected individuals who have criticised the Trump administration either publicly or in messages on their phone read by immigration officers.
“When I go to play music in Europe, if I talk about Donald J Trump, I may be one of those returning to America who is barred or put in jail to sleep on a cement floor with an aluminium blanket,” Young wrote. “That is happening all the time now. Countries have new advice for those returning to America.”
Young will tour across Europe in June and July – his first shows on the continent in six years – before returning to the US in August.
“If I come back from Europe and am barred, can’t play my USA tour, all of the folks who bought tickets will not be able to come to a concert by me,” he wrote. “That’s right folks. If you say anything bad about Trump or his administration, you may be barred from re-entering USA if you are Canadian. If you are a dual citizen like me, who knows? We’ll all find that out together.”
Young has a long history of protesting against Trump. In 2015, he said the then-presidential candidate was “not authorised” to use his track Rockin’ In the Free World during a campaign launch – and later filed a lawsuit to prevent Trump from using his music.
“Imagine what it feels like to hear Rockin’ in the Free World after this president speaks, like it is his theme song,” he wrote at the time. “I did not write it for that.”
After Young became a US citizen in 2020, during Trump’s first term, he penned an open letter calling the president “a disgrace to my country”.
He doubled down on his website, writing: “If the fact that I think Donald Trump is the worst president in the history of our great country could stop me from coming back, what does that say for Freedom? … Remember Freedom of Speech?”
In recent weeks, the British punk band UK Subs and a French scientist have been detained and denied entry to the US; both parties had previously expressed criticism of the Trump administration. The government has also taken action against foreign student activists.
After several instances of travellers being detained for weeks and even shackled, several European countries have updated their advice about travel to the US. Denmark and Finland have urged caution to trans and non-binary travellers, Germany has emphasised that a visa or entry waiver does not guarantee entry to the US, and the UK appears to have revisited their US travel advisory, advising that anyone found breaking US entry rules could face arrest or detention.
On Tuesday, Young rallied against what he saw as “spineless” acts of enforcement.
“It seems that those who speak out freely with their own opinions are now vulnerable to a non-existent Trump law,” he wrote, “that makes it possible for you to go to jail or be detained, punished in some way for not showing allegiance to what?”
Young concluded by invoking the pledge of allegiance. “One country, indivisible, with Liberty and Freedom for all,” he said. “Remember that? I do.”
