Springsteen’s ‘Streets of Minneapolis’ protests ICE violence

Bruce Springsteen has turned to music to voice his outrage over US immigration enforcement, releasing a new protest song that sharply criticises Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Trump administration.

The track, titled “Streets of Minneapolis”, was released on Wednesday (January 28) and is framed by Springsteen as a response to what he described as “the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis.” According to the artist, he wrote the song on Saturday, recorded it the following day, and released it immediately in reaction to events in the city.

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The release comes amid an intensified immigration crackdown under US President Donald Trump’s administration. Springsteen links the song to the deaths of Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse, and Renee Good, whom he says were killed by a federal ICE agent during protests in Minneapolis. Pretti was shot on Saturday (January 24), an incident Springsteen describes as the second fatal shooting following Good’s death.

In a statement accompanying the release, the rock musician said the song was written for Minneapolis and “our immigrant neighbors.” He added, “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. It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors, and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good. Stay free, Bruce Springsteen.”

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Running four and a half minutes, the song delivers one of Springsteen’s most direct lyrical attacks on federal immigration enforcement. In one verse, he describes ‘’King Trump’s private army from the DHS/Guns belted to their coats/Came to Minneapolis to enforce the law.'' Elsewhere, he refers to federal officers as ‘’thugs,’’ a term that underscores the song’s confrontational tone.

Another verse recounts the violence at the centre of the song’s narrative: ‘’We’ll remember the names of those who died/On the streets of Minneapolis/Trump’s federal thugs beat up on/His face and his chest/Then we heard the gunshots.''

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Springsteen has long positioned himself as a vocal critic of Trump and his policies, using interviews, stage remarks, and music to challenge the administration. He has previously called the US president a “threat to our democracy” and has repeatedly warned about what he sees as the erosion of civil liberties.

In May 2025, the 76-year-old musician criticised Trump in unusually stark terms, saying the US was “currently in the hands of a corrupt, incompetent and treasonous administration.” In an earlier comment, he said, “There’s some very weird, strange and dangerous s--- going on out there right now. In America, they are persecuting people for using their right to free speech and voicing their dissent.”