As Santa Clara, California prepares to host Super Bowl LX at the 49ers’ Levi’s Stadium, many of us across the country will gather with friends and family to enjoy the game. But for many Bay Area residents — especially immigrants — it has brought fear and growing protests.
Much of the fear comes from the announced presence of the Department of Homeland Security and ICE around Super Bowl operations. Trump administration officials previously warned that immigration agents would be present at the Super Bowl, and there have been reports of DHS agents spotted around the Bay Area in the lead-up. While wealthy fans and media outlets have descended on the city for a week of exciting build-up to the game and parties, immigrant families and mixed-status households have been on high alert across the Bay Area. In addition to this, a far-right non-profit called “American Sovereignty” paid to have pro-ICE Super Bowl-themed billboards put up in San Francisco this week to further attack immigrants. In response to this whole anti-immigrant climate fostered in the Bay Area around the Super Bowl, organizers have launched a week of know your rights trainings, marches, and rallies in the Bay Area demanding that ICE stay away from the event and surrounding communities.
At the same time, the halftime show has become a more politicized moment given the racist attacks from the Trump administration and recent ICE brutality across country. Bad Bunny — a hip/hop and reggaeton artist from Puerto Rico and one of the most popular acts in the world — will perform. Since he was selected to perform, conservative politicians and media figures attacked the choice, pointing to his Spanish-language music as being “un-American” (despite the fact that Bad Bunny is a U.S. citizen as are all Puerto Ricans!). In collaboration with the Trump administration, Turning Point USA responded by organizing an alternative “All-American” halftime broadcast to compete directly with his performance, which Trump said he will watch instead. And this back and forth has intensified further after Bad Bunny publicly declared “ICE Out” during his acceptance speech after winning the Grammy for Album of the Year last weekend. In many ways, your stance on Bad Bunny has become a question of “which side are you on?” amidst the broader political climate in the country.
The Trump administration is exploiting the Super Bowl for their political agenda, striking fear into immigrant communities and further stoking a culture war by attacking Bad Bunny and his fan base. But we don’t have to put up with it. Many of us will enjoy the game Sunday, but let’s also reflect on this moment we are in, and the need to organize and fight back against all the attacks we face!
