Bruce Springsteen lambasted the federal crackdown on immigrants during a performance Saturday as he dedicated a song to the memory of Renee Nicole Good, who was killed by an ICE officer in Minneapolis.
Springsteen characterized federal law enforcement participating in the Trump administration’s crackdown as “heavily armed, masked federal troops invading an American city, using Gestapo tactics against their fellow citizens.”
Springsteen was performing at Light of Day Winterfest at the Count Basie Center for the Arts in Red Bank, New Jersey, on Saturday night when he dedicated his 1978 song “The Promised Land” to Good’s memory, according to cellphone video from the performance shared by NJ.com.
In the video, Springsteen said he wrote the song “as an ode to American possibility” and added that the United States’ set of ideals and values is “being tested as it has never been in modern times.”
He told the crowd he hoped his message would reach President Donald Trump.
“If you believe you don’t deserve to be murdered for exercising your American right to protest, then send a message to this president. And as the mayor of that city has said: ‘ICE should get the f— out of Minneapolis,” Springsteen told a supportive home-state crowd, echoing the words of Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey.
Good was behind the wheel of an SUV on a residential street when she was shot and killed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer Jonathan Ross. Ross was near the front, driver’s side corner of Good’s vehicle when it began pulling away, and he fired three rounds, killing Good, a mother of three, and setting off a firestorm of criticism.
Cellphone video of the shooting showed Good turning the steering wheel away from Ross as she began to drive. Federal officials said the shooting was a defensive action in the face of a potentially deadly weapon, the SUV, moving in his direction.
Ross walked away from the scene unassisted, video showed, but Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said he was later treated and released from a hospital after he was struck by the vehicle. A Department of Homeland Security official told NBC News that Ross sustained internal bleeding but did not elaborate on his injuries.
Noem said shortly after the shooting that what Good had done was “domestic terrorism,” and Trump, without offering any evidence to support the claim, called Good and her partner “professional agitators.” Frey and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, both Democrats, have been at odds with federal officials who have sought to justify Good’s shooting. They have also questioned why the FBI has cut out local authorities from the investigation into the shooting.
White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson responded to Springsteen’s criticism in a statement first published by The New York Times.
“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.”
DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment Sunday.
Springsteen followed Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., podcaster Joe Rogan and others in comparing current ICE tactics to those of the Gestapo.
The Gestapo was the secret police force of Nazi Germany that helped round up Jews and send them to their deaths at concentration camps. They were characterized by cruelty, torture and an accountability-free reign.
Good died amid a federal immigration enforcement surge in Minnesota in which videos of violent arrests have proliferated on social media. Some Minnesotans have characterized the surge as an “invasion,” with protesters and law enforcement officers clashing in demonstrations that at times have turned violent.
On Sunday night, Antonio M. Romanucci, a lawyer representing the family of Renee Good and Becca Good — Renee’s partner — pointed NBC News to an earlier news release in which he said Renee “wanted to see a better world for her kids” when the couple happened upon immigration enforcement action in their Minneapolis neighborhood after they had dropped off their 6-year-old at school. The couple stopped to observe “with the intention of supporting and helping their neighbors,” the news release said.
Springsteen said onstage Saturday that those who “believe in the power of the law and that no one stands above it” should support a call for federal officers to leave the Twin Cities.
