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In 2020, after decades of living in the United States, Neil Young became a US citizen — but according to his wife, Daryl Hannah, Donald Trump’s first administration disrupted the Canadian icon’s citizenship process, causing delays and unnecessary complications.
Young was born in Toronto and grew up in Canada, but moved to the United States in 1967. He remained in the US for years after that, but only got around to getting his citizenship in 2020 so that he could participate in that year’s presidential election. According to a 2019 post on his Neil Young Archives, though, the process had been delayed due to his “use of marijuana,” causing him to be required to take “another test” after passing his initial citizenship text.
Now, speaking to the BBC in a new interview, Hannah has shed more light on the process, explaining, “They tried every trick in the book to mess him up, and made him keep coming back to be re-interviewed and re-interviewed. It’s ridiculous [because he had] been living in America and paying taxes here since he was in his 20s.”
Whether the citizenship hold-up was directly related to Young’s opposition to Trump or not remains unclear, but Hannah did acknowledge her husband’s recent fears that he could be “barred” from entering the US — or worse, jailed — due to his vocal criticisms of Trump, saying it’s unlikely that there will be any issue.
“They’ve been detaining people who have green cards or visas — which is hideous and horrifying — but they have not, so far, been refusing to let American citizens back in the country, so I don’t think that’s going to happen,” she said.
With that said, it now seems likely that Young will be able to attend his 2025 US tour dates as scheduled. The jaunt kicks off in August, with stops planned for Cleveland, Chicago, Los Angeles, and more cities. Get tickets here.
In other Young news, he recently teamed up with Joan Baez and Maggie Rogers for a rendition of “Rockin’ in the Free World” at Bernie Sanders’ Fighting Oligarchy rally in Los Angeles. Watch a video of the performance below.
English (US) · 