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Nicki Minaj admits she's still not a citizen of the United States even though she pays "millions" in taxes.
The Pink Friday 2 rapper made the revelation during a TikTok Live session with a fan earlier this week. While she attempted to assist the young fan with his situation, Minaj shared that she's not considered a citizen in the U.S. The multiplatinum-selling artist arrived in the country from Trinidad & Tobago as an illegal immigrant when she was a little girl. Since then, she's paid millions of dollars in taxes but has yet to receive her citizenship.
“I’m not a citizen of America. Isn’t that crazy?” she said.
“I was born on a beautiful island called Trinidad and Tobago," she continued. "But I’ve been in the States for many years. You would think that with the millions of dollars that I’ve paid in taxes to this country that I would have been given an honorary citizenship many, many, many thousands of years ago.”
Nicki Minaj's immigration status is no secret. The Queen rapper shared her story when she spoke out against the Trump administration's horrible immigration policies at the U.S.-Mexican border in 2018. In response to migrant children being separated from their parents at the border, Minaj revealed she came to America illegally when she was five years old and couldn't imagine going through what those children experienced.
"I came to this country as an illegal immigrant @ 5 years old," she wrote at the time. "I can’t imagine the horror of being in a strange place & having my parents stripped away from me at the age of 5. This is so scary to me. Please stop this. Can you try to imagine the terror & panic these kids feel right now? Not knowing if their parents are dead or alive, if they’ll ever see them again... 🇺🇸."
Despite her status, Minaj has been able to travel the world including her home country. Last year, she returned to Trinidad & Tobago to celebrate carnival.