Legendary Canadian-US singer-songwriter Neil Young has expressed concern that he may be unable to return to the United States after criticising Donald Trump.
“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 aluminum blanket,” the 79-year-old folk musician writes on his Neil Young Archives site – referring to the Trump administration detaining travellers for weeks, deporting and detaining immigrants over their political views, and what actress Jasmine Mooney endured last month.
The Canadian actress said in an interview that she was detained in “inhumane” conditions for nearly two weeks by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials. Early March, she tried to cross at the US-Mexico border in hopes of renewing her work visa and instead of being granted entry – or sent back to Mexico – she was detained.
“That is happening all the time now,” continues Young. “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.”
Several European countries have updated their advice about travel to the US, with Germany emphasising that a visa does not guarantee entry to the US and Denmark urging caution to trans and non-binary travellers.
Young’s Love Earth world tour is set to kick off 18 June in Rättvik, Sweden. He will tour Europe, including a bill-topping set at Glastonbury in June, followed by North American dates beginning on 8 August.
“I love America and its people and its music and its culture,” Young writes. “If the fact that I think Donald Trump is the worst president in the history from our great country could stop me from coming back, what does that say for freedom?… Remember freedom of speech? By these latest actions of the US government, it seems that those who speak freely with their own opinions are now vulnerable to non-existent Trump law.”
He continues: “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 history of being critical of Trump.
After he became a US citizen in 2020, he penned an open letter calling the president “a disgrace to my country”. The same year, he filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Trump over his unauthorised use of the song ‘Rockin’ in the Free World’.
“Imaging 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.”
The musician concludes his most recent post by invoking the pledge of allegiance: “One country, indivisible, with Liberty and Freedom for all. Remember that? I do.”
