“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”: Neil Young fears that he may be barred from re-entering the US

Neil Young has suggested he could be the latest artist to be barred from entering the US because of his criticisms of the Trump regime.

Writing on his Neil Young Archives website, Young said: “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. That is happening all the time now. Countries have new advice for those returning to America.”

“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.”

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Young is playing a number of dates in Europe, including Glastonbury this summer, before returning to the States in August.

Just last week, the first-generation punk band, UK Subs, or rather three-quarters of them (frontman Charlie Harper managed to get through) were barred from entering the US. Though it hasn’t been confirmed by US immigration authorities, their bassist Alvin Gibbs suggested the reason could have been their criticism of Trump on social media.

But UK Subs are, as their name suggests, UK nationals and hardly household names. Neil Young holds joint Canadian/US nationality (he became a US citizen in 2020), has a major label recording contract and has been a major cultural figure for six decades.

It would be very surprising (and illegal, though that hasn’t stopped the Trump administration thus far) if Young were to be barred from entering the country of which he is a citizen.

Others though are not inoculated by celebrity. As Young noted in his post, there have been numerous reports of travellers being detained for days or shackled. One Canadian woman who had a work visa and had been travelling across the border for business for years has reported being detained for two weeks before being deported.

So it seems likely that the UK Subs won’t be the only touring musicians to have to face these problems. “It seems that those who speak out freely with their own opinions are now vulnerable to a non-existent Trump law,” Young wrote, “that makes it possible for you to go to jail or be detained, punished in some way for not showing allegiance to what? One country, indivisible, with Liberty and Freedom for all. Remember that? I do.”