Billie Eilish slams ICE and Trump administration in | Music News

Billie Eilish slammed ICE while accepting an award recognizing her environmental activism.

The 24-year-old artist was offered with the MLK Jr. Beloved Community Environmental Justice Award in Atlanta over the weekend, but utilized her platform to condemn US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and President Donald Trump’s strict immigration stance.

Billie said, “To be honest, I really don’t feel deserving.

“And it’s extremely unusual to be celebrated for working in the direction of environmental justice at a time where it feels less achievable than ever given the state of our nation and the world proper now.

“We’re seeing our neighbors being kidnapped, peaceful protesters being assaulted and murdered, our civil rights being stripped, resources to fight the climate crisis being cut for fossil fuels and animal agriculture destroying our planet, and people’s access to food and healthcare becoming a privilege for the wealthy instead of a new basic human right for all Americans.

She added: “I’ve this platform and I believe it is my accountability to use it, so I really feel like I’m just doing what anybody in my place ought to be doing.”

Following the fatal shooting of Renee Good during an operation in Minneapolis earlier this month, Billie posted content on her Instagram Story calling ICE a “terrorist group,” which drew criticism from the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for what they termed “rubbish rhetoric”.

DHS assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin said, “ICE doesn’t separate households. Parents are requested if they need to be eliminated from their youngsters, or ICE will place the kids with a secure particular person the mother or father designates. This is constant with past administrations’ immigration enforcement.

“It’s garbage rhetoric from the likes of Billie Eilish that is leading to a 1,300 per cent increase in assaults and a 3,200 per cent increase in vehicle rammings against our brave law enforcement.”