"said his worries began when Donald Trump returned to the White House with promises to crack down on the border. But Escamilla said he initially decided to keep playing the U.S. dates he had booked months before. He said several moments subsequently gave him pause, like when he first saw Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers on city streets at a July tour stop, or when the U.S. Supreme Court voted in September to effectively allow ICE to racially profile people."
"If I was stopped, or ran into ICE agents right now, I don't think my documents would matter. At the end of the day, the person is going to judge you by your skin colour, he told CBC Radio's Metro Morning Thursday. Literally no one in the United States can guarantee my safety while I travel with my Mexican passport."
Quique Escamilla is a Juno-award winning musician based in Toronto who still carries a Mexican passport. He grew increasingly uneasy crossing into the United States after Donald Trump returned to the White House promising stricter border enforcement. He continued to play previously booked U.S. dates but noticed ICE officers on city streets during a July tour stop and the U.S. Supreme Court's September decision that effectively allowed racial profiling by ICE. He made contingency arrangements before crossings in case he could not be reached. After ICE agents shot and killed two American citizens in Minneapolis, he concluded it was no longer safe for him and his band to perform in the U.S. In a social media post on Jan. 21, he announced cancellation of his remaining U.S. dates and said he would not return to the country.
Read at www.cbc.ca
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