Bruce Springsteen called for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to “get the f–k out of Minneapolis” during a surprise appearance in New Jersey over the weekend.
During the appearance at the Light of Day Winter Festival in his home state on Saturday, the 76-year-old rocker dedicated his 1978 song The Promised Land to Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old mother of three who was fatally shot by an ICE agent in Minneapolis on Jan. 7.
During his introduction of The Promised Land, Springsteen said: “I wrote this song as an ode to American possibility. It was about a both beautiful but flawed country that we are, and the country that we could be. Right now, we are living through incredibly critical times. The United States — the ideals and the values for which it stood for the past 250 years — is being tested as it’s never been in modern times.”
Springsteen then turned his attention to recent news, adding: “If you believe in the power of the law and that no one stands above it, if you stand against heavily armed masked federal troops invading an American city, using Gestapo tactics against our fellow citizens, if you believe you don’t deserve to be murdered for exercising your American right to protest, send a message to this president as the mayor of that city has said, ICE should get the f–k out of Minneapolis.”
Springsteen was referring to Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, who said during a press conference: “I have a message for ICE. Get the f–k out of Minneapolis.”
“So this song is for you, and the memory of the mother of three and American citizen Renee Good,” said Springsteen, before launching into The Promised Land.
The Trump administration has repeatedly defended the ICE agent who shot Good, a mother of three, saying he acted in self-defence.
Trump administration officials referred to Good as a “domestic terrorist,” and said she had attempted to ram federal agents with her car. But that explanation has been widely panned by Frey, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and others based on videos of the confrontation.
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State and local authorities are urging the public to share video and any other evidence as they seek to separately investigate Good’s death after federal authorities insisted they would approach it alone and not share information.
Abigail Jackson, a White House spokesperson, responded to Springsteen’s criticism in a statement to the New York Times on Sunday.
“Unfortunately for Bruce, no one cares about his bad political opinions,” Jackson said. “And if he actually believed in ‘the power of the law,’ he would understand that criminal illegal aliens should be deported, that impeding federal law enforcement operations is a crime, and that officers have a right to act in self defense if an individual is using their car as a deadly weapon.”
The rock-and-roll icon has been a longtime opponent of U.S. President Donald Trump.
Last May, Springsteen told a Manchester audience that he believes Trump is “unfit” for the Oval Office.
While introducing his and the E Street Band’s song Land of Hopes and Dreams, after which his current tour is named, the 76-year-old Springsteen said, “In my home, the America I love, the America I’ve written about, that has been a beacon of hope and liberty for 250 years, is currently in the hands of a corrupt, incompetent and treasonous administration.”
“The last check on power after the checks and balances of government have failed are the people, you and me. It’s in the union of people around a common set of values now — that’s all that stands between a democracy and authoritarianism. So at the end of the day, all we’ve got is each other,” Springsteen said later in the show.
The next morning, Trump called Springsteen highly overrated.
“Never liked him, never liked his music or his Radical Left Politics and, importantly, he’s not a talented guy — just a pushy, obnoxious JERK,” he wrote on social media.
“This dried out prune of a rocker (his skin is all atrophied) ought to KEEP HIS MOUTH SHUT until he gets back in the Country.”
The next night, also in Manchester, Springsteen repeated his criticisms.
Trump then escalated his feud with Springsteen in the form of a digitally altered video. He retaliated further by sharing a doctored video, showing himself hitting Springsteen with a golf ball on his X and Truth Social accounts.
There was no caption accompanying the video.
Trump has not yet responded to Springsteen’s latest comments.
— With files from Global News’ Rachel Goodman and The Associated Press
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