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‘No one illegal on stolen land’: Anti-ICE wave takes over Grammys 2026 in Trump's America
Bad Bunny won the award for his album ‘Debí Tirar Más Fotos’ and dedicated his win “to all the people who worked on this album”.
The Grammy awards 2026, a night which is otherwise dedicated to celebrating music and honouring artists, were taken over by a wave of the anti-ICE sentiment in the United States as several winners used the platform to condemn the anti-immigration crackdown across the country.
Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny, who won Album of the Year, declared “ICE out” during his acceptance speech to express his strong condemnation of the federal agents’ actions under Donald Trump's administration.
“Before I say thanks to God, I’m gonna say: ICE out,” Bad Bunny said.
“We’re not savage, we’re not animals, we’re not aliens. We are humans and we are Americans,” he added.
Bad Bunny won the award for his album ‘Debí Tirar Más Fotos’ and dedicated his win to “all the people who had to leave their homeland to follow their dreams". “Thank you mami for giving birth to me in Puerto Rico. I love you," he said.
Olivia Dean, who was named the Best New Artist at the Grammys, used her time on the stage to highlight her immigrant lineage and said, "I never really imagined that I would be up here," as she received her first Grammy.
“I'm up here as a granddaughter of an immigrant. I wouldn't be here ... I am a product of bravery, and I think that those people deserve to be celebrated,” she said during her emotional speech.
‘No one is illegal on stolen land’
Echoing the same sentiment as Bad Bunny, American singer Billie Eilish also took the opportunity to criticise the agents of the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and wore “ICE out” pin to express her discontent with the federal agency.
While accepting her Song of the Year award for ‘Wildflower’, Eilish said, "No one is illegal on stolen land”. Her reference, apparently, was to how the land where US stands as a country was colonised by the British and others, a process that in part included massacres of indigenous peoples.
"F*** ICE," she said.
Damian Kulash, the lead vocalist of the band OK Go, said it felt “irresponsible” to feel joy right now as the Trump administration has tasked ICE agents to attack “its own people”.
"Our own government has raised an army of, like, masked anonymous men to attack its own people and that feels utterly irresponsible for us to be celebrating anything right now," he said.
Artists adorn anti-ICE pins at Grammys 2026
Apart from Billie Eilish, several other artists also sported ‘ICE out’ and other anti-ICE pins during the award ceremony.
"I think is really important for all of us in the music industry, in any industry. So I'm very happy to be wearing it today,” said songwriter Amy Allen, who wore an ‘ICE out’ pin. She has written songs for artists such as Sabrina Carpenter and Harry Styles.
Jason Isbell, Margo Price, Kehlani and Rhiannon Giddens, among several others, also wore anti-ICE pins or other accessories to express their protest against ICE.
Justin Vernon, whose band Bon Iver was nominated for best alternative music album, wore a whistle.
He said he wore it in honour of the legal observers who are documenting the actions of the ICE agents.
“I think there’s a reason that music exists and it’s to heal and to bring people together,” he said, as quoted by the Associated Press. “But the real work are those observers on the on the ground in Minneapolis. We just want to want to shout them out,” he added.
(With inputs from AP, Reuters)
