Musical icon Gloria Estefan has called on people to “stand up” in the face of President Trump and the extreme crackdown by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the US.

The “Rhythm Is Gonna Get You” singer won her fifth American Grammy on Sunday (1 February) night. She won the award for Best Tropical Latin album for Raíces with her husband, Emilio.

Estefan also used the moment to speak to the current political turmoil engulfing America. In the last month, federal immigration agents have killed two US citizens – Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti – in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

A federal officer fatally shot Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care nurse, on 24 January. Good, also 37, was shot on 7 January.

Speaking to the Associated Press on the Grammys red carpet Estefan called on all Americans to “stand up”.

The Grammy winner said: “I have been very vocal about the fact that I’m scared of what I’m seeing in this country. I’ve been living here for decades. This is not the place that I grew up in. We need to all stand up.”

She also recalled studying the Holocaust in college, saying: “The biggest lesson that I learned was that silence is our biggest enemy.” Estefan added: “We all have to stand together and say that we agree that the border has to be secured, but this is not what’s happening.”

The Cuban-American singer also said: “People, families are being torn apart, children, hundreds of children are in detention and in horrible conditions. I have personal experience with people in my circle that their loved ones have been taken away and have been months in detention for no reason because they haven’t been deported, they haven’t done anything.

“So no, we need to stand up and we need to vote and show our political and economic power.”

While Estefan didn’t name Trump or ICE specifically it’s hard to imagine who else she is referring to, especially after two fatal shootings in a month. Her comments also follow the arrest of the journalist Don Lemon, who covered an anti-ICE protest in a Minnesota church in January.

Lemon, who has spoken about his ordeal, and eight others have bene charged with conspiracy against religious freedom at a place of worship and injuring, intimidating and interfering with the exercise of the right of religious freedom at a place of worship. 

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