Pop star Lady Gaga refused to hold back as she paused her recent Mayhem Ball tour performance to speak out against U.S. immigration agents.
Videos by Suggest
While onstage at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan, Lady Gaga took a stand against the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in the U.S.
“I want to take a second to talk about something that’s extremely important to me,” she said. “Something important to people all over the world and especially in America right now.”
She further shared, “In a couple of days, I’m gonna be heading home, and my heart is aching thinking about the people — the children, the families, all over America — who are being mercilessly targeted by ICE.”
The pop star then reflected on the recent violence between U.S. immigration agents and protesters.
“I’m thinking about all of their pain and how their lives are being destroyed right in front of us,” she said. “I’m also thinking about Minnesota and everyone back at home who is living in so much fear and searching for answers on what we all should do. When entire communities lose their sense of safety and belonging, it breaks something in all of us.”
Lady Gaga further encouraged her Japanese fans to stand with the fans in the U.S. “I know we’re not in America right now, but we are with our community, and we love you.”
The Pop Star Encourages the World to Get Back to ‘A Place of Safety and Peace and Accountability’
Lady Gaga further encouraged everyone to get back to a place of “safety and peace and accountability.”
“Good people shouldn’t have to fight so hard and risk their lives for well-being and respect,” she said. “I hope our leaders are listening. I hope you’re listening to us ask you to change your course of action swiftly and have mercy on everyone in our country.”
She then added, “At a time where it doesn’t feel like it’s easy to have hope, it is my community and my friends, my family, that hold me up. So, I would like to sing a song that does have some hope in it, to try to give us a little bit tonight.”
She then performed “Come to Mama” from her album, Joanne.
Lady Gaga’s mid-concert speech came just days after the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti. The Minneapolis resident and VA ICU nurse was killed amid a scuffle with border patrol agents on a street.
U.S. immigration agents also made headlines earlier this month after the shooting of Renee Good. On Jan. 7, Good was fatally shot by an immigration agent while in her vehicle protesting.
Another person was also shot in the leg by immigration agents and survived the encounter.
Trump administration border czar Tom Homan has since announced the immigration agent’s strategy is shifting. He noted that agents are being instructed not to “communicate or engage with agitators.”
“It serves no purpose other than inflaming the situation,” he said about the encounters. The border czar said he ordered agents to work on a “drawdown plan” for Minnesota.
“I came here to seek solutions,” he noted. “And that’s what we’re going to do.”
Homan then added that immigration agents will focus only on immigrants with criminal charges or convictions.