The White House has used a Bad Bunny song to promote immigration arrests months after the Puerto Rican superstar publicly declared “ICE out.”
On July 30, the official White House TikTok account shared a compilation of Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests set to “LA MuDANZA,” the closing track from Bad Bunny’s 2025 album Debí Tirar Más Fotos.
“We’re making America great again,” the caption read.
Bad Bunny has repeatedly criticized President Donald Trump’s immigration policies and expressed concern that federal agents could target fans attending his concerts.
The Video Did Not Explain Why the Song Was Chosen
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The TikTok showed federal agents detaining people during operations conducted under the Trump administration. The White House did not explain whether “LA MuDANZA” was selected as a deliberate provocation, because its Spanish title translates to “The Move,” or simply because the track was available through TikTok’s music library.
Bad Bunny Declared ‘ICE Out’ at the Grammys
Bad Bunny made his position explicit during the 2026 Grammy Awards while accepting Best Música Urbana Album for Debí Tirar Más Fotos. “Before I say thanks to God, I’m gonna say:, ICE out,” he told the audience.
“We’re not savage, we’re not animals, we’re not aliens,” he continued. “We are humans and we are Americans.” Bad Bunny urged people to confront hatred with compassion rather than allowing anger to create more division. “The only thing that is more powerful than hate is love,” he said. “We need to be different. If we fight, we have to do it with love.”
The speech received a standing ovation inside the ceremony but drew criticism from White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, who accused the singer of attempting to demonize federal law enforcement.
He Previously Expressed Concern About ICE at His Concerts
Bad Bunny excluded the continental United States from his Debí Tirar Más Fotos tour before appearing at the 2026 Super Bowl halftime show. He later explained that several considerations influenced the decision, including concern that ICE agents could appear outside his concerts and target audience members.
“The issue of, like, f***ing ICE could be outside (my concert),” he said in a 2025 interview. “And it’s something that we were talking about and very concerned about.” Bad Bunny, who was born in Puerto Rico, is a U.S. citizen.
He also publicly criticized ICE after witnessing agents detaining people in Carolina, Puerto Rico, in June 2025. He shared footage of the operation and condemned the officers in Spanish.
‘LA MuDANZA’ Is a Declaration of Puerto Rican Identity
“LA MuDANZA” recounts how Bad Bunny’s parents met, explores his family history and celebrates the Puerto Rican community that shaped him. The lyrics also reference Puerto Rico’s 1948 Gag Law, which criminalized certain displays of the Puerto Rican flag and pro-independence expression, as well as educator and independence advocate Eugenio María de Hostos.
Bad Bunny closes the song by insisting that nobody will remove him from the place where his family was born. The official music video builds on those themes through family photographs, Puerto Rican landscapes and political and cultural imagery connected to the island’s history.
The White House Has Used Other Critics’ Music in ICE Videos
The Bad Bunny video follows several similar disputes involving musicians who objected to their work being connected to the administration’s immigration enforcement campaign. In June, the White House used Ariana Grande’s song “Bye” in a TikTok compilation showing ICE agents detaining people.
Grande responded by demanding that the administration stop using her music in connection with what she called “barbaric, inhumane, heinous nonsense.” Her team said it would seek the removal of the song, and the video’s audio was muted within hours.
Sabrina Carpenter previously condemned the White House’s use of “Juno” in another immigration-arrest montage, calling the video “evil and disgusting” and telling the administration not to involve her music in what she described as an inhumane agenda.