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‘People Are Scared’: How Trump’s Immigration Policies Are Affecting Latin Music

Trump's immigration policies could affect Latin music, from concert attendance to royalties. Here's how, according to Latin music professionals.

“People are scared that they’re going to be targeted and rounded up, creating a chilling effect happening around a community that is getting internalized mentally but also physically in their decisions to not go shopping or go to concerts,” says Kumar, who in the past has teamed up with artists like Maná and Los Tigres del Norte to get Latinos more politically involved. That includes everything from flower shops and restaurants in Chicago seeing a notable decline in sales to schools and churches feeling the “chilling effect,” as The New York Times put it in a report about “immigrants in hiding” over fear of deportation. Over the course of two months, Billboard reached out to more than a dozen industry leaders, from managers to agents to promoters, for this story, with the majority declining to give an interview about just how much the Trump administration could impact the business of Latin music.

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