After Kristi Noem, the secretary of homeland security, criticized new lyrics by the country music star Zach Bryan warning that Immigration and Customs Enforcement “is going to come bust down your door,” the musician pushed back on Tuesday, saying that his lyrics had been “misconstrued.”
It was the latest flashpoint in an increasingly bitter clash between conservatives and popular entertainers over the Trump administration’s immigration policies. Many far-right commentators have recently denounced the N.F.L. over its selection of the Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny as the headliner of the Super Bowl halftime show in February.
Noem had called Bryan’s song “completely disrespectful,” and in pointed remarks aimed at him said she was “very happy that I never once gave you a single penny to enrich your lifestyle.”
In a snippet of the untitled song, which Bryan posted to Instagram last week, he sings: “The middle finger’s rising, and it won’t stop showing. Got some bad news. Thе fading of the red, white and blue.”
Asked on Tuesday by the right-wing podcaster Benny Johnson what she thought of Bryan’s lyrics, Noem replied that the song disrespected not only law enforcement officials but also “every single individual that has ever stood up and fought for our freedoms.” The song, Noem said, “attacks individuals who are just trying to make our streets safe.”
“Zach, I didn’t listen to your music,” she added. “I’m happy about that today.”
In an Instagram story on Tuesday evening, Bryan suggested that listeners would understand the context of the new lyrics once he released the entire song, though he did not say when that would be.
“Everyone using this now as a weapon is only proving how devastatingly divided we all are,” Bryan wrote. “We need to find our way back.”
Bryan, a Navy veteran who in 2022 had a breakthrough year with the album “American Heartbreak,” added that he was speaking only as a 29-year-old man “who is just as confused as everyone else.”
The response to the song, Bryan said, made him both embarrassed and scared. “Left wing or right wing, we’re all one bird and American,” he said.
A representative for Bryan did not respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.
The conservative outrage to the song snippet comes as the Trump administration continues to crack down on illegal immigration in big cities across the country. Bad Bunny, who is from Puerto Rico and sings in Spanish, has been critical of President Trump’s immigration policies.
Noem said last week that ICE would be “all over” the Super Bowl. This week, House Speaker Mike Johnson said the N.F.L.’s decision was “terrible,” adding that he did not know who Bad Bunny was. Mr. Trump called the choice “absolutely ridiculous.”
Criticism of Bryan’s song was not limited to Noem. Abigail Jackson, a spokeswoman for the White House, went after the singer using the titles of his songs.
“While Zach Bryan wants to ‘Open The Gates’ to criminal illegal aliens and has ‘Condemned’ heroic ICE officers, ‘Something in the Orange’ tells me a majority of Americans disagree with him and support President Trump’s great American ‘Revival,’” Jackson said in a statement. “Godspeed, Zach!”
The Department of Homeland Security also trolled Bryan on social media on Tuesday. The agency used his 2020 song “Revival” in a promotional video that depicted agents rappelling from helicopters, confronting protesters and arresting people.
Derrick Bryson Taylor is a Times reporter covering breaking news in culture and the arts.
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