President Trump’s mass immigration crackdowns and arrests of pro-Palestinian protesters appear to be expanding into a quieter, unexpected frontier—the arts.  Musicians and creatives known for political and humanitarian activism from outside the U.S. say they're facing detention and increasing censorship. Major artists now warn they could be “barred” or even “put in jail” for speaking out.

Three members of British punk band UK Subs were recently locked in a freezing LAX detention cell for 25 hours before being deported.

 “I’m kind of proud of myself for being thrown out of America at the age of 67,”  Bassist Alvin Gibbs said, adding that he was denied entry over visa issues—and possibly, he speculated, due to his “less than flattering public pronouncements” about Trump.

Neil Young, currently on a European tour, fears he could be next. 

“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 aluminum blanket,” he wrote on his official blog.

“If the fact that I think Donald Trump is the worst president in the history of our great country could stop me from coming back, what does that say for Freedom?” Young added.

On Reddit, users are calling the alleged quiet crackdown on artists’ speech “crazy fascist behavior.” 

“The party of ‘free speech’ everyone. Boycott the US. It’s not safe here,” one user wrote.

“I wake with a certain amount of fear each day,” another shared. “Losing freedom of speech and expression is quite terrifying.”

Hozier fans on Reddit are also growing concerned. With his fierce support for LGBTQ+ rights and condemnation of civilian deaths in Gaza, some are questioning whether the Irish artist's political views and activism-charged lyrics could put his future U.S. appearances at risk.

German concert pianist Schaghajegh Nosrati canceled her upcoming U.S. tour, citing “great emotional pain” over “the direction in which the country is developing under the Trump Administration.”

“The administration claims the right to interfere in cultural institutions and sciences and dismisses masses of people who do not conform to government’s ideology,” Nosrati added.