Bad Bunny says he didn’t include U.S. in concert tour for fear of ICE raids

Puerto Rican singer Bad Bunny performs during his concert residency at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on July 11. (RICARDO ARDUENGO/AFP/AFP via Getty Images via CNN Newsource)

Puerto Rican musician Bad Bunny said in an interview that he did not include the United States in his 2025-2026 concert tour because of fear that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) would raid the concert venues.

“People from the U.S. could come here to see the show. Latinos and Puerto Ricans of the United States could also travel here, or to any part of the world,” he told i-D magazine. “But there was the issue that … ICE could be outside (my concert venue). And it’s something that we were talking about and very concerned about.”

The musician has previously been critical of ICE operations, which have intensified under U.S. President Donald Trump. He posted an Instagram video in June in which he expressed outrage at federal agents in Puerto Rico for not “leaving these people working here alone.”

Bad Bunny – born Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio – kicked off the concert tour with a two-month residency at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico José Miguel Agrelot in San Juan. The residency, titled “I Don’t Want to Leave Here,” spans 30 concerts on the Caribbean island and concludes on Sept 14. The shows also included some Hollywood stars.

The artist will continue his concert tour promoting the new album “Debí tirar más fotos” after the residency. The “Debí tirar más fotos World Tour” will begin on Nov. 21 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, and culminate in Brussels, Belgium, on July 22, 2026. The tour will touch Latin America, Europe, Asia and Oceania.

“There were many reasons why I didn’t show up in the US, and none of them were out of hate,” Bad Bunny said in the interview. “I’ve performed there many times.” He added: “I’ve enjoyed connecting with Latinos who have been living in the United States.”

Bad Bunny, who endorsed Democrat Kamala Harris in the 2024 US presidential election, has used his new album and world concert tour to promote Puerto Rican culture and its different musical genres and amplify the voices of marginalized people.

By Gonzalo Jimenez, Isa Cardona, CNN