Erasing Mexican music from the USA
Regional Mexican and Latin artists are being blocked from touring in the US as Trump’s immigration crackdowns, visa revocations, and fan fears reshape the US live‑music map. Mexican and Latin bands are boycotting US tours – a kind of self-deporting from the US live music scene.
In late May, Tijuana’s Grupo Firme — one of música mexicana’s biggest crossover acts, which had played many times in the US — abruptly pulled out of the La Onda festival in Napa Valley, when the U.S. government suspended visas for the band hours before showtime – a total loss financially and for fans. In Texas, superstar Julión Álvarez, who also had a long history of US shows, was turned away at the airport when he tried to board a flight for a sold‑out stadium show, costing them millions of dollars. Visas were denied or yanked for other regional Mexican outfits, including Los Alegres del Barranco, unraveling their tours.
Festivals also suffer. When top‑selling stars like Julión Álvarez and Peso Pluma were unable to secure U.S. visas this year, entire Latin festivals built on their sets were cancelled. Billboard estimates that the Latin concert business has already lost millions, with promoters reporting double‑digit drops tied directly to immigration policy. The response from Mexican and Latin bands has been a growing boycott of the US touring market, led by Bad Bunny, and a focus on other markets.
For many Mexican and Latin acts, Mexico is now the core of their touring strategy. A strong domestic circuit of arenas, palenques (late‑night tent concerts), fairs, and festivals lets them stay busy and profitable without the US. Latin acts now build tours around Mexico City, Guadalajara, Monterrey, and a dense network of state‑level ferias (although this reduces opportunities for women who are underrepresented on local stages).
Beyond Mexico, artists are booking the Latin American “super‑circuit:”: Colombia, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, and Peru, with Mexican dates as the tour backbone, instead of Los Angeles, Houston, and Chicago, and US festivals as the backbone. The money may be slightly less per show, but what they lose in U.S. dollars, they regain in predictability and fewer last‑minute expensive visa disasters.
Europe is also a serious alternative. Bands like Los Ángeles Azules’ successful tour of Europe showed that Mexican acts can go “global” without relying on U.S. Canadian summer festivals and city‑sponsored Latin events now offer solid fees and a friendlier climate toward both migrants and the audiences. Plus, Canada is part of the FIMPRO music business conference in Guadalajara, showcasing Canadian bands in Mexico for cross-border swaps. Japan is another alternative: Mexican groups have been playing Japan for years. Banda El Recodo has already done it twice, first in 2002 and again more recently in Tokyo to record a live album, En Vivo Desde Japón. Los Panchos built a cult following in Japan with tours, while mariachi ensembles and smaller cumbia bands play Min‑On’s “Viva Mexico” tours and at events like the Japan Cumbia Festival
Is the blocking of Mexican and Latin music from the USA racism – a government attempt to chill Mexican cultural influence in the US?
I think so, and many others, including Chicago congressman Jesús “Chuy” García think so too. He has become one of the most forceful critics of the visa cancellations, warning that blocking Mexican artists from entering the U.S. is not just about individual songs or shows, but about silencing a cultural force that fills stadiums and breaks records. His message echoes a broader fear among fans and promoters who see these artists and their music as central to contemporary Latino identity in the United States being erased.
U.S. officials insist the revoked visas are about security and cartel‑related concerns, not culture. But across Spanish‑language media, Latin‑music outlets and advocacy groups, a growing chorus argues that the pattern looks like de facto cultural suppression of Mexican music, especially the booming regional Mexican and corrido scenes now dominating charts and arenas. This fits with the anti-immigrant, national purity policies of the Trump Administration.
Almost a quarter of what is now the United States was Mexico until the mid-1800’s. Spanish, and later Mexican, music was part of American culture hundreds of years before there was a USA. The guitar, the foundational instrument of American rock and country and blues, was brought to the Americas by the Spanish and later spread by Mexicans. Now, radical racial extremists in the US government want to squash the Latin influence that helped build the music of America. The losers in this are the bands, and the American fans of Latin and Mexican music in US.
This year, Colombian star Karol G. was able to successfully headline Coachella, but who knows if she will have a visa next year or will even want one? Or if any artist from Latin America will? Maybe that’s the point.
Patrick O’Heffernan
Banner: Grupo Firme, one of the bands blocked from playing in the USA. By Tania Victoria/Secretaría de Cultura de la Ciudad de México
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