Bruce Springsteen denounced the Trump administration’s deployment of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in cities across the United States and dedicated a song to Renee Good, the woman recently killed by an ICE agent in Minneapolis, at a surprise performance in New Jersey on Saturday.
Appearing at the Light of Day Winterfest in Red Bank, N.J., Mr. Springsteen told the crowd: “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 has never been in modern times,” according to videos that circulated online.
He added: “If you believe in the power of the law and that no one stands above it, if you stand against heavily armed mass 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, then send a message to this president.”
Mr. Springsteen went on to quote Mayor Jacob Frey of Minneapolis, who had used an expletive to tell ICE to leave the city. He then dedicated his song “The Promised Land,” which tells of a young working-class man striving for a brighter future, to Ms. Good.
“This one is for you, and the memory of mother of three and American citizen, Renee Good,” he told the crowd.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Sunday.
Ms. Good was fatally shot by an ICE agent, Jonathan Ross, on Jan. 7 in Minneapolis. Mr. Ross was standing near the front of Ms. Good’s car and fired his gun after she drove toward him and then turned to the right. Mr. Trump and administration officials have said that Ms. Good had “weaponized her vehicle” against the agent.
Mr. Springsteen’s remarks on Saturday were hardly the first time the musician has spoken out against Mr. Trump and his policies.
When Mr. Springsteen endorsed former Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign in 2024, he called Mr. Trump the “most dangerous candidate for president in my lifetime.” Last year, Mr. Springsteen opened his “Land of Hope and Dreams” tour in England by accusing Mr. Trump and his administration of trampling on civil rights and siding with dictators.
In response, Mr. Trump wrote on social media that Mr. Springsteen “ought to KEEP HIS MOUTH SHUT.” He also called for a “major investigation” into Mr. Springsteen and other celebrities, including Beyoncé and Oprah Winfrey.
Undeterred, Mr. Springsteen released a six-track EP that offered a mix of songs and his political remarks from the show in England. That project began with his statement that the United States was “in the hands of a corrupt, incompetent and treasonous administration.”
Derrick Bryson Taylor is a Times reporter covering breaking news in culture and the arts.
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