Confusion Abounds as Multiple International SXSW Artists Denied Entry Into U.S.
Several international artists traveling to Austin for SXSW have been denied entry into the United States over the course of the past week, as controversy continues to swirl about immigration issues both at the festival and in the country at large. Members of the Italian band Soviet Soviet, the London jazz group United Vibrations, and Canadian/Egyptian hardcore band Massive Scar Era, Chilean band Trementina, as well as the Danish producer ELOQ and the Spanish rapper Yung Beef, have all announced that their travels to the festival have been thwarted, with confusion abounding about the specifics of what kind of visa you need to be able to legally play SXSW.
Billboard reports that yesterday, Customs and Border Protection issued an “advisory” clarifying the kind of visa that international musicians must have to perform at SXSW or similar events. However, a SXSW representative claims that the “advisory” cited by Billboard was a “boilerplate email response” and not a formal travel advisory. Billboard has since updated their story, changing “advisory” to “clarification.” SXSW representatives shared this statement with Pitchfork:
Jonathan Ginsburg, an expert in entertainment and immigration law based in the Washington, D.C. area, now serving as immigration counsel to SXSW, explains:
“U.S. immigration law allows foreign nationals to enter the U.S. using a B visa or the Visa Waiver Program to conduct business, but not to render services. The U.S. Department of State, accordingly, has long recognized that entertainment groups may enter the U.S. to ‘showcase,’ but not to perform under contract with U.S. venues or other employers.”
SXSW is working in concert with other U.S. organizations in an effort to ensure that both the State Department and CBP continue to treat showcasing as a valid activity in B or Visa Waiver status. In the meantime, SXSW remains confident that the vast majority of consular officers and CBP officials understand and respect the need for, and the principle of, showcasing at promotional events such as the official SXSW event.
Bands having their U.S. tour plans scuttled by immigration problems is nothing new. In 2011, the Guardian ran a report about “the red tape that stops UK bands playing SXSW.” Brooklyn Vegan alone has six pages of news posts tagged “visa issues,” dating back 9 years. Even Adele had to cancel a 2009 SXSW appearance for these reasons.
But in the current political climate, more media attention is focused on these issues. It’s difficult to determine how many smaller artists in years past have faced similar situations to Soviet Soviet, United Vibrations, Massive Scar Era, and ELOQ. It’s possible that this is business as usual. But it’s also possible that even though the White House’s latest travel ban doesn’t go into effect until this Thursday, March 16, the President’s immigration philosophy is already having a trickle-down effect, as some of these bands believe.
Soviet Soviet wrote on Facebook on Friday that they arrived in the U.S. with a letter from their American label, an invitation from SXSW, and authorization to travel in America via the Visa Waiver Program. The band said that officers interrogated them for hours before denying them entry to the country, handcuffing them, and putting them in jail for the night. They were put on a plane back to Italy. “We were relieved to fly back home and distance ourselves from that violent, stressful and humiliating situation,” they wrote.
The problem seems to have been that Soviet Soviet were unaware that they had the wrong of paperwork necessary for the kinds of performances they were scheduled to play in the U.S, which included shows other than SXSW. NPR Music has a good explanation of the situation here.
United Vibrations is a London-based quartet consisting of brothers Kareem, Yussef, and Ahmad Dayes, as well as Wayne Francis. In a statement, their management said that the band’s SXSW trip was “cancelled due to last minute amendments to the artist’s visa waivers.” The statement continued, “As the band themselves, who are all UK citizens, and have no criminal records, the only conclusion is that the U.S. Government is actively discriminating against ordinary and decent individuals based on their heritage and/or identity. This behavior is a disgrace and an infringement of civil liberties.”
The band themselves posted the following on Facebook:
ELOQ tweeted that he was denied entry into the country “even though I was informed by SXSW I had the right visa.” He also wrote that he was handcuffed and kept in a jail cell for 23 hours. “Any outside of US artists playing @SXSW be very careful,” he wrote, “This is NOT fun!”
craziest 24 hrs ever. Not going to SXSW, but back to Denmark. I been denied entry. 😐 even though i was informed by sxsw i had the right visa
— DIAMONDS OUT NOW (@yo_ELOQ) March 13, 2017
@yo_ELOQ ive been handcuffed and detained in a small very bright room plus a very unpleasant jail cell for 23 hours.. thats a first!
— DIAMONDS OUT NOW (@yo_ELOQ) March 13, 2017
@yo_ELOQ any outside of US artists playing @sxsw be very careful! This is NOT fun! Good story to tell tho
— DIAMONDS OUT NOW (@yo_ELOQ) March 13, 2017
In a longer Facebook post, ELOQ elaborated on his experience. “Actually apart from the EXTREME boredom of having nothing to do, not knowing the time, and not sleeping well, it was all in all just a cool story to tell now!” he wrote.
The post-hardcore band Massive Scar Era—whose members are based both in Vancouver, British Columbia and Cairo, Egypt—shared a video on Facebook saying they were denied entry into the United States, as well, NPR notes. Like Soviet Soviet, Massive Scar Era seem to have been told that they were carrying the wrong visas needed for their tour, though they claim to have used the same visa to play SXSW previously. And like United Vibrations, Massive Scar Era also questioned if they were denied entry because of their ethnicity.
Writing on Facebook, guitarist/vocalist Cherine Amr said, “My passport (Egyptian) could’ve been the issue. Our bassist is first nation! He is allowed to get in and work in the USA whenever he wants to, the officer told him that his official first nation card (released by the Canadian government) doesn’t prove he is first nation and he needs to get DNA test (lol) he told him that he did this already to get the card in the first place! RIP USA SXSW.”
Days before traveling to Austin, Trementina received an email saying that their visa/permits had been cancelled, Billboard reports. “We’ve tried to contact the U.S embassy in Peru, Mexico, and Chile, and they didn’t gave us any answer or solution,” the band wrote in a Facebook note. “We’ve lost airplanes tickets, a month and a half of shows and a lot of work and time that we’ve invest on it.” The band are planning to stay in Mexico.
Yung Beef, scheduled to perform at a Sounds of Spain showcase, was stopped at the Barcelona-El Prat airport, Billboard reports. His label La Vendicion Records posted a statement saying that his ESTA wasn’t accepted. Yung Beef himself tweeted an update, which reportedly translates to, “Now it’s not that they’re not letting me in at the club, now they’re not letting me enter a country.”
Ya no eske no me dejen entrar en la diskoteka eske no ne dejan entrar en el pais
— KING BEEF (@secoweedcodein) March 14, 2017
SXSW generated controversy earlier this month when a clause in artist contracts concerning the deportation of international artists came to light. After a group of artists signed an open letter to the festival asking for officials to drop the clause, SXSW promised they’d “change the language in our artist invitation letter and performance agreement for 2018 and beyond.” They also promised, “There are no ‘deportation clauses’ in our current performance agreements. There will be no ‘deportation clauses’ in our future participant agreements.”
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