Bruce Springsteen releases new ICE protest song, ‘Streets of Minneapolis’
The Boss, who has previously said ICE should leave Minneapolis, honors Renee Good and Alex Pretti, and calls out Donald Trump, Kristi Noem and Stephen Miller in the new song.
Bruce Springsteen has released a new anti-ICE protest song called “Streets of Minneapolis.”
Singing out on behalf of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, both of whom were shot to death by by federal immigration enforcement agents this month, Springsteen’s song is harshly critical of the Trump administration and the Department of Homeland Security’s occupying force in Minnesota this year.
“King Trump’s private army from the DHS, guns belted to their coats,” Springsteen sings in the slowly building, folk-gospel song’s opening verse. “Came to Minneapolis to enforce the law, or so their story goes.”
“I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis,” Springsteen said on social media on Wednesday. “It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good. Stay free.”
The second verse continues:
“Against smoke and rubber bullets, in the dawn’s early light Citizens stood for justice, their voices ringing through the night/ And there were bloody footprints, where mercy should have stood/ And two dead left to die on snow-filled streets, Alex Pretti and Renee Good.”
Springsteen actively campaigned against Trump in 2024, singing at a rally for Democratic Presidential candidate Kamala Harris at the Liacouras Center on the Temple University campus in North Philly in the lead-up to the election.
Last year, while on tour in Europe, Springsteen began his concerts by calling the Trump administration “corrupt, incompetent and treasonous” before performing his patriotic song, “Land of Hope and Dreams.”
President Trump responded by calling Springsteen “Highly Overrated,” “not a talented guy,” and a “dried prune of a rocker.”
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“Streets of Minneapolis,” which is Springsteen’s third “Streets” song after “Streets of Fire” and “Streets of Philadelphia,” speaks truth to power not only about Trump, but also Department of Homeland Security head Kristi Noem and White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller.
Referring to claims that ICE agents responded with gunfire because their own lives were at risk, Springsteen sings, as the music swells: “Their claim was self-defense sir, just don’t believe your eyes / It’s our blood and bones and these whistles and phones / Against Miller and Noem’s dirty lies.”
“Street of Minneapolis” is not the first Springsteen song to protest a death at the hands of law enforcement. His 2001 song “American Skin (41 Shots)” was written in response to the 1999 shooting of Amadou Diallo by four plain clothes policemen of the New York Police Department who were subsequently acquitted on all charges.
The weekend before Pretti’s death, Springsteen made a surprise appearance at the Light of Day benefit concert in Red Bank, N.J., where he dedicated “Promised Land” to Good and said “If you believe you don’t deserve to be murdered for exercising your American right to protest, then send a message to this president, as the mayor of the city said: ICE should get the f— out of Minneapolis.”
“Streets of Minneapolis” leans into its rage as it progresses, and promises to continue to honor Good and Pretti, as it closes with Springsteen singing:
“We’ll take our stand for this land, and the stranger in our midst/ We’ll remember the names of those who died on the streets of Minneapolis.”