Karol G used her Coachella headlining set on the first Sunday night to tell fans to keep fighting, turning a festival victory lap into a political message for Latinos in the crowd and watching online. She told tens of thousands in person and many more on the livestream to feel pride in where they come from, after recently criticizing ICE in a Playboy interview.
“This is for my Latinos that have been struggling in this country lately,” she said, before adding: “We want everyone to feel welcome to our culture, so I want everyone to feel proud of where you come from. Don’t feel fear — feel pride!”
The moment mattered because Coachella sold out with record spending from fans, and fears that ICE might show up for a prominent Latin headliner proved unfounded. Lt. Deirdre Vickers of the Riverside County Sheriff’s office said her office does not participate in immigration enforcement operations, easing one of the worries hanging over the festival weekend.
That relief did not erase the larger unease around live music in the United States. A year after Trump returned to office, Pollstar’s Andy Gensler estimated that the total number of concerts in the U.S. tracked for the first quarter of 2026 was down about 17% from the previous year, while international artists are weighing ICE raids, border tensions, policed political speech, and the cost of visas, fuel and touring logistics more heavily than they did before.
Gensler said the fears around raids did not come true, but the pressure is still there. “The fears that ICE would raid shows didn’t really materialize, but there is a chilling effect,” he said. “Trump’s only been back in office a year, so we haven’t fully seen the effects, but it does send a message that if you’re a political artist you won’t get a visa. With the economic shock of gas prices and tourism way down, the signifiers are out there.”
Adam Lewis was blunter about the calculation facing touring acts. “Artists are thinking twice, based on what the government is doing right now,” he said. “You can look at the economics — the fees are cost prohibitive to get a visa. People are scared, at the bottom line. Artists and industry people are afraid to come to the U.S. for any music event. The money is go”
Karol G’s set answered one question in full: the fear of an immigration raid at Coachella did not materialize. What remains is whether the message she carried from the stage will echo beyond one packed desert weekend, at a time when foreign artists are deciding whether the U.S. is still worth the risk.
