As Bay Area Gears Up to Host Super Bowl LX and Bad Bunny Halftime Show, Fears of ICE Loom

Diego Jiménez said he listens to Bad Bunny’s music almost every day. So when he heard that the Puerto Rican star would be performing at this year’s Super Bowl halftime show at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, he was hyped.

Jiménez lives in San José, only a short drive from the stadium, and started to make plans with friends to hear the performance from outside. The 29-year-old, among many young Latinos in the Bay Area, looked forward to celebrating reggaeton taking center stage during the most-watched event on American television.

But for Jiménez and others in his community, this excitement has been overshadowed by the threat of federal immigration enforcement, similar to the violent operations carried out in Minneapolis by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, along with Customs and Border Protection, in recent weeks.

“Because of how things are now, I feel like I run the risk of being interrogated or detained, regardless of my status,” Jiménez said.

More than 40% of San José’s population is foreign-born, a percentage higher than both San Francisco and New York City, and the city is home to thousands of Asian and Latino families.

Since the Trump administration launched a nationwide mass deportation campaign last year, social media has filled up with videos of ICE agents using force to pull parents away from their children, and most recently, the footage capturing the deadly shootings of Renée Macklin Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.

“I think what ICE has come to is insane,” said Vanessa Arriaga-Rodríguez, a student at UC Berkeley, who grew up in Half Moon Bay and has helped lead anti-deportation protests in San Mateo County. “You have all of these tax dollars that are funding all of this hatred and violence, and it’s really scary.”

In a September interview with i-D Magazine, Bad Bunny shared that he’s performing less in the U.S. because of his team’s concerns about potential ICE activity outside his concerts. A few weeks later, the NFL announced that he would headline the Super Bowl halftime show — a decision that President Donald Trump blasted as “ridiculous.”

The administration has not been clear on what role ICE will have in Super Bowl security. In October, when conservative podcaster Benny Johnson interviewed Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, she said, “There will be, because the Department of Homeland Security is responsible for keeping it safe,” before adding: “People should not be coming to the Super Bowl unless they’re law-abiding Americans who love this country.”

But earlier this week, DHS said in a statement to KQED that it “will not disclose future operations or discuss personnel,” and that “Super Bowl security will entail a whole of government response conducted in line with the U.S. Constitution. Those who are here legally and are not breaking other laws have nothing to fear.”

Democrats have strongly criticized the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement in Minneapolis. Gov. Gavin Newsom has called for Noem’s resignation, and San José Mayor Matt Mahan on Sunday acknowledged the possibility of ICE operating during the Super Bowl. On social media, he affirmed that his city’s police officers “cannot and will not interrupt or assist with legal immigration enforcement — but they will protect you, your freedoms and our city.”

Local officials, however, have also acknowledged that for the Bay Area to host major sporting events, such as the Super Bowl and the FIFA World Cup later this year, they must cooperate at some level with the federal government.

“But let me be clear — no one is above the law,” Santa Clara County Supervisor Otto Lee said Tuesday. “If anyone comes into our County masked, spreading terror, breaking laws, and threatening our residents, they will be arrested by our Sheriff’s deputies and police officers.”

In response to this uncertainty, the region’s immigrant defense groups have been ramping up their efforts. The Rapid Response Network in Santa Clara County — a coalition of hundreds of volunteers working around the clock to verify possible ICE sightings — confirmed Thursday that it will have legal observers near the stadium to quickly spot any deportation efforts.

“We don’t know or have any confirmation that ICE will be present,” said Mariam Arif, an organizer with Services, Immigrant Rights and Education Network, a group that’s part of the county’s Rapid Response Network. “But there’s no harm in contingency planning because what we saw in Los Angeles and what we’re seeing in Minneapolis give us all a reason to prepare for the worst-case scenario.”

Rapid Response Network members are training immigrant families on their constitutional rights, protected under the Fourth Amendment, which limits when government officials can detain someone or enter their home. Legal scholars have expressed concern that ICE leadership has previously directed officers to enter a home without a warrant signed by a judge — which could be a violation of the Fourth Amendment.

“Anywhere that you are approached, it’s important to ask for that warrant,” Arif said.

If ICE does mobilize during the Super Bowl, Arif said residents can alert the region’s many rapid response networks, so trained volunteers can verify if federal agents are actually present, and that way, also prevent the spread of misinformation on social media.

“We don’t want ICE in our community during the Super Bowl or at any time for that matter,” Arif said.

In San Francisco, almost 50 miles north of Levi’s Stadium, organizers of Super Bowl-related events say they’re taking extra steps to protect guests, which include offering cards that list people’s rights during encounters with federal immigration agents.

“I know that a lot of places offer these cards, but it’s better to have more than less,” said Óscar Delgado, who’s helping organize a Bad Bunny-themed dance party in the city’s Mission District. “Let’s make sure they’re everywhere, and if you haven’t read them, take time to know your rights, especially now.”

Jiménez, the Bad Bunny fan in San José, said he now plans to stay home to watch the big game.

“I’m creating a plan with family members in case the worst happens,” he said. “Before, we didn’t have to do that. And I don’t think that we ever should.”