Three More SXSW-Bound Bands Denied Entry Into The U.S.

Today, three more bands announced that they would not be performing at this year's South by Southwest [SXSW] music festival because their members have been prevented from entering the United States.

This afternoon, the label Brownswood Recordings, founded by DJ, producer and broadcaster Gilles Peterson, announced that the drummer Yussef Dayes — who performs in two bands, the London-based duo Yussef Kamaal, which is signed to Brownswood, and United Vibrations alongside his brothers Ahmed and Kareem — had his "visa revoked at the 11th hour." The label added that Yussef Kamaal believes this decision "to be discrimination based on religion and race."

According to a statement from Brownswood, all three Dayes brothers, originally scheduled to travel to the U.S. tomorrow, have had their status under the Visa Waiver Program (ESTA) revoked. United Vibrations also released its own statement today:

"We are sad to announce we will NOT be performing at SXSW in Texas because our ESTA's have been revoked under the new Executive order. We were looking forward to connecting with our brothers and sisters stateside to share our music. Why weren't we let in? Our Names? The music? The color of our skin?"

Overnight, the post-hardcore band Massive Scar Era, which is based dually in Vancouver, Canada and Cairo, Egypt, posted a video on Facebook saying that its members were denied entry into the United States in advance of a planned showcase performance at SXSW.

The relevant material begins in the video at 1:33. In it, the band's songwriter, guitarist and vocalist, Cherine Amr, says that the group was denied entry at the U.S. - Canada border near Seattle because, as performing artists, the group needed to enter the U.S. with P-2 visas instead of B-1 (tourist) visas. The group was carrying a letter from SXSW asserting that they could travel to the U.S. under the so-called "showcase exception" with tourist visas. (The band Soviet Soviet, which was denied entry to the U.S. last week and returned to their native Italy, had also attempted to employ a letter from SXSW in a similar fashion.)

According to Massive Scar Era's Facebook page, the group had at least four American tour dates planned for the next two weeks, including a stop in Austin during SXSW; Denver; Provo, Utah; and Seattle. If that information is accurate, it is entirely possible that the group was attempting to travel to the U.S. on incorrect visas.

In a question similar to United Vibrations' statement, Amr asks whether or not the denial is due to the fact that both she and singer/violinist Nancy Mounir are Egyptian. She also claims in the video that the immigration agent posited that they could be coming into the U.S. as some sort of "protest."

According to Massive Scar Era, a Customs and Border Patrol [CBP] official also questioned the band's bassist, Dylan Pieter Wijdenes-Charles, about proving his ethnic identity.

In the video, Amr recounts a purported exchange between the immigration agent and Wijdenes-Charles. "Dylan is a First Nation," she exclaims. "He's allowed to go to the States whenever he wants to, work whenever he wants to, because he's First Nation ... He [the CBP agent] looked at him and he's like, 'Next time when you come, you have to show a blood test that you're First Nation.'" The band says that Wijdenes-Charles was carrying an official card identifying him as a First Nation member.

If Massive Scar Era's allegations are true, the immigration agent's statements could be a breach of the Jay Treaty and subsequent legislation following that agreement. The Jay Treaty, signed in 1794, allows First Nation members and American Indians free passage across the U.S.-Canadian border for many reasons, including employment and immigration.

According to a statement posted on the U.S. embassy in Canada's website, "eligible persons must provide evidence of their American Indian background to at the port of entry ... Generally such evidence would include either an identification card from the Ministry of Indian and Northern Affairs or a written statement from an official of the tribe from which you or your ancestors originate, substantiated by documentary evidence (tribe records and civil long form birth certificate bearing the names of both parents)."

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