Emerging stars are starting to critique Trump’s immigration crackdown – defying the genre’s legacy of conservatism
Thanksgiving did not go the way that Frank Ray had anticipated.
The country singer had invited his family up from Texas to Tennessee for the holiday, with plans to deep fry a turkey, explore Nashville, and take in a show at the Grand Ole Opry. But on Thanksgiving morning, Ray received an unsettling call: TSA had flagged his sister’s husband, Juan Nevarez-Porras, at El Paso international airport due to insufficient documentation required to fly.
Born in Mexico, Nevarez-Porras has lived in the United States for 20 years, is a green-card applicant, and recently received a renewed five-year work authorization – which is still listed as an acceptable travel document, according to the TSA. ICE detained him shortly after, while his son, who is 16 years old and a US citizen, was taken into the custody of border patrol. In Tennessee, Ray’s family was at a loss as to how to remedy the situation.
As the US immigration crackdown continues, stories like Ray’s have become disturbingly familiar. They also have all the makings of a country song: snapshots of American hardship and heartbreak, of working men and women whose oppression is laid bare by guitar and melancholy melody. Decades ago, Merle Haggard’s The Immigrant and Dolly Parton’s cover of Woody Guthrie’s Deportee advocated for the rights of Mexican immigrants in America. Ray himself waded into the topic of immigration in 2023 with Jesus at the Taco Truck, written and performed with Shy Carter, about a man named Jesus with scars on his feet and hands from crossing the Rio Grande.
