A Texas-based drummer was “forcibly removed” from his flight to Europe by border patrol agents when authorities discovered he had an active arrest warrant, forcing his band to cancel their international tour.
Lord Buffalo drummer Yamal Said, a Mexican national, had boarded his flight at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport when Customs and Border Patrol officials detained him on May 12, the band said in a Facebook post.
Said, a green card holder, is permitted to live in the US, but was wanted by the Llano County Sheriff’s Office for violating a protective order against him multiple times, a felony in Texas, Homeland Security said on X.
“Said had a warrant for his arrest after violating a restraining order at least TWICE. If you come to our country and break our laws, you will be arrested,” the agency said.
“When he was attempting to leave the US, he was apprehended by CBP and has been turned over to local law enforcement.”
The band announced they were forced to cancel their upcoming tour over Said’s arrestwithout mentioning the alleged arrest warrant.
The Psych-Americana band was scheduled to tour with rock band Orsak:Oslo in the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Finland and Sweden throughout May.
“We are devastated to cancel this tour, but we are focusing all of our energy and resources on Yamal’s safety and freedom. We are hopeful that this is a temporary setback and that it could be safe for us to reschedule this tour in the future,” the band said.
Orsak:Oslo spoke out on Said’s arrest, saying that nobody should be “jailed for simply trying to travel and make art with their band.”
“We’re devastated by the situation Lord Buffalo and their drummer Yamal have been forced into. No one should be pulled off a plane and jailed for simply trying to travel and make art with their band. We won’t pretend to understand the full complexity of the situation, but this should not happen anywhere,” Orsak:Oslo wrote.
Said joined the Lord Buffalo in 2017 after previously drumming for the band The Black.
He moved to the US when he was a child in the 1980s after his parents moved their family out of Mexico City following an earthquake, the Austin Chronicle reported.
Said is currently employed as a paraprofessional for the middle school and high school teams at the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired in Austin.
A vice principal at the school described Said as a “highly respected and long-serving member of our school community,” according to the outlet.
Lord Buffalo said they had been left out of contact with Said, but has been given an immigration attorney
“We still know very little about the situation, but we have been asked by our drummer’s family and his legal team to respect their privacy while this situation evolves,” the band said in an update on Wednesday.