Bad Bunny didn’t include the United States in his latest tour out of fear that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement would raid the concert venues.
Now it looks like ICE agents will come to the only stage where the Puerto Rican hitmaker will perform in the country next year: Super Bowl LX.
Three days after the NFL announced that Bad Bunny will headline the Feb. 8 halftime show at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., a Trump administration official said ICE agents will also be at one of the biggest sporting events in the world.
Corey Lewandowski, chief adviser to Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, appeared on “The Benny Show” on Wednesday, and conservative podcaster Benny Johnson asked him if ICE would have enforcement at the Super Bowl.
“There is nowhere that you can provide safe haven to people who are in this country illegally. Not the Super Bowl and nowhere else,” Lewandowski said. “We will find you. We will apprehend you. We will put you in a detention facility, and we will deport you. So know that that is a very real situation under this administration, which is completely contrary to how it used to be.”
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson responded to The Athletic via email Thursday, saying, “There is no safe haven for violent criminal illegal aliens in the United States.” DHS did not answer what ICE’s plans were for the Super Bowl, if it planned to be in the parking lot and/or inside the stadium, and if it would check the IDs of fans and workers.
The NFL did not respond to The Athletic’s request for comment. The Bay Area Host Committee, a nonprofit focused on bringing major global sporting events to the region, which will help coordinate Super Bowl LX, also didn’t respond.
When Bad Bunny was announced as the Super Bowl’s halftime act, Bay Area Host Committee president and CEO Zaileen Janmohamed released a statement expressing excitement over the choice, adding, “We are confident that Bad Bunny will deliver an unforgettable experience for fans in Levi’s Stadium and watching globally. This selection further amplifies the Bay Area’s position as a premier destination for world-class events, and we look forward to a spectacular show that showcases the unique spirit and diversity of our region.”
On the podcast, Lewandowski criticized the NFL’s decision to have Bad Bunny — a three-time Grammy Award winner who released his latest album, “Debí Tirar Más Fotos,” in January — perform at the Super Bowl. Bad Bunny will be the first Latin male to headline the halftime show.
“It’s so shameful that they’ve decided to pick somebody who just seems to hate America so much to represent them at the halftime (show),” said Lewandowski, whom President Trump appointed to the Homeland Security Advisory Council in June. “I was at the Super Bowl [earlier this] year with President Trump. I had the chance to be in Louisiana in his box and watch the game, and got to enjoy that.
“But listen, we should be trying to be inclusive and not exclusive. There are plenty of great bands and entertainment people out there who could be playing at that show that would be bringing people together and not separating them.”
“If there are illegal aliens, I don’t care if it’s (at) a concert for Johnny Smith or Bad Bunny or anybody else, we’re going to do enforcement everywhere because we are going to make Americans safe. That is a directive from the president,” Lewandowski added. “If you’re in this country illegally, do yourself a favor: Go home. We’ll buy you the plane ticket. Get out of the country.”
Super Bowl LX.
Bay Area.
February 2026.#AppleMusicHalftime@NFL @AppleMusic @RocNation @SNFonNBC @nbc @peacock pic.twitter.com/XEWpAldrlS— Benito Antonio (@sanbenito) September 29, 2025
Bad Bunny, whose real name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, has been critical of the ICE raids, which have also taken place in Puerto Rico, an unincorporated U.S. territory. Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens.
In June, Bad Bunny posted a video on his Instagram stories, calling ICE agents in Toyota RAV4s “sons of b——” in Spanish because they weren’t “leaving the people alone working there” while they detained them. The artist then told i-D magazine he decided to leave the U.S. off his tour out of concern about the mass deportations of Latinos.
“There was the issue of — like, f—ing ICE could be outside (my concert),” he said, “and it’s something that we were talking about and very concerned about.”
(Photo: Gladys Vega / Getty Images)
