Trump’s targeting of immigrants prompts classical music quartet to cancel performance at downtown T or C venue

A quartet made up of Camerata Del Sol musicians, based in Las Cruces, cancelled their April 4 performance at 405 Main Street, the 405 Gallery. They didn’t want their members who have varying immigration statuses to go through the border patrol station that lies between Las Cruces and T or C. 

It’s perfectly understandable why they would not be willing to risk their musicians. 

March 15 the Trump  administration essentially kidnapped more than 200 Venezuelans. They were not arrested or charged and were given no due process before being forced onto a plane to an El Salvador prison. 

Trump had issued an executive order that cited the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which gives presidents the authority to remove aliens from the U.S. if congress has declared war on or officially recognized a conflict with the aliens’ country of origin. 

Congress has not declared war on Venezuela or recognized a conflict with that country. But since Republicans have a majority in the house and senate, and they choose to accede legislative power silently while applauding Trump’s claim of unlimited executive power, there is no legislative check on Trump. 

Trump wants to disappear Venezuelans purportedly for being members of the gang Tren de Aragua? You want the public purse to pay El Salvador $6 million to house them in their inhumane prison system? Fine with the Republican legislature. 

The judiciary is trying to check the Trump administration, but they can’t. 

A judge ordered the planes deporting the Venezuelans to be turned around, but Trump officials ignored the court order. In fact, the Trump administration deported 17 more alleged Venezuelan gang members yesterday, utterly disregarding the judge’s temporary injunction. 

The Trump administration has also targeted foreigners here on student visas, some for no reason, some for having participated in pro-Palestinian activities. 

Foreign intellectuals, scientists and tourists have been detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement as well: 

https://www.axios.com/2025/03/20/tourists-us-residents-detained-arrested-deported-ice-immigration-trump 

ICE, clearly, can do anything it wants, any legal or due process constraints cast off by Trump’s flouting of court orders, with cabinet members and Republican lawmakers and right-wing media celebrating authoritarian tough-guy action against immigrants and foreigners.

The immigration crackdown is clearly looking to eradicate foreign intelligentsia’s influence and crush international fellowship–a source of “wokeism” in the states that Camerata Del Sol has correctly discerned includes their classical music group. 

Camerata Del Sol sent a letter to the Sierra County Arts Council yesterday, explaining why they were cancelling their performance: 

We have always loved playing at Grapes Gallery.

While we were very excited about our upcoming concert on April 4th, we are heartbroken that we have had to make the difficult decision to cancel all concerts that would require our musicians to travel through the internal checkpoints. We are sorry, but we have to cancel our concert at Grapes Gallery this Friday, April 4th. 

We are proud of the fact that Camerata del Sol is a regional group that brings together musicians from Ciudad Juarez, El Paso, and Las Cruces. Every concert we have played has included musicians with different types of immigration status. We have had US citizens, legal permanent residents, and people with special visas play with the ensemble. 

Unfortunately we are living in a time when all immigrants, regardless of their legal status in the United States, are being stripped of the right to due process. The right to review and the right to challenge evidence aren’t being respected, threatening due process rights and freedoms of everyone in the US, both citizens and non-citizens. 

  Today in the US legal immigrants are being deprived of liberty and property, as well as having their lives endangered, all without a fair and just process. We will not change our regional, collaborative structure. We will not form ensembles made up only of US citizens. We cannot ask our musicians to travel through internal checkpoints at this point in time as we watch even legal permanent residents being mistreated at airports and kidnapped off the street.

We apologize that this cancellation is happening at this late date. It was truly our hope that the courts and congress would be able to protect people in the US with legal status. Just this past week we have seen that even when judges have issued orders to protect Fulbright scholars and others, those orders have been ignored. 

We no longer have confidence that there would be any protection of the basic rights of all of our musicians if they were to travel through an internal checkpoint. 

We hope that you will be able to join us, and/or encourage your usual patrons to join us for one of the concerts that will take place in Las Cruces on April 5th or the concert in El Paso on April 6th.

We are deeply saddened that we have had to make this decision.

Sierra County Arts Council President John Johanek (who is also on the Citizen’s not-for-profit board, Sierra County Public-Interest Journalism Project), gave his reaction to the cancellation:

“It’s shameful that this could even happen. When the crap that’s going on in Washington reaches T or C, that’s a pretty far reach.

“I don’t think anybody understood the extent of what the impacts would be. It not only demonstrates the lack of planning, but also the lack of empathy [on the Trump administration’s part].” 

Want to protest the Trump Administration’s authoritarianism? Local filmmaker and writer Ariel Dougherty asks you to join her: 

“I STAND—Fridays at Peace Island (triangle at Date & entrance to Main), 12:00 to 1:00 p.m. —bring your own sign. 

“This Saturday (April 5) a National protest—locally also here at Peace Island, 12:00 to 1:00 p.m.”