After saying it was too busy focusing on immigration enforcement in Minneapolis, the Trump administration took time on Thursday (Jan. 29) to respond to Bruce Springsteen‘s lacerating anti-ICE song, “Streets of Minneapolis.” The ripped-from-the-headlines Woody Guthrie-style protest song which the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer said he wrote last Saturday (Jan. 24) and recorded on Tuesday (Jan. 27) was inspired by what the singer called the “state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis.”
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Specifically, the song called out the killings of U.S. citizens Renée Good and Alex Pretti, both 37, who were gunned down in Minneapolis by immigration enforcement troops in the midst of the so-called Operation Metro Surge enforcement action that has seen thousands of border patrol and ICE troops descend on the city.
Always quick to clap back at criticism from public figures, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson issued a statement to The Hollywood Reporter on Thursday (Jan. 29) in which it dismissed Springsteen’s songs as “irrelevant.”
“The Trump administration is focused on encouraging state and local Democrats to work with federal law enforcement officers on removing dangerous criminal illegal aliens from their communities — not random songs with irrelevant opinions and inaccurate information,” Jackson said. “The media should cover how Democrats have refused to work with the administration, and instead, opted to provide sanctuary for these criminal illegals.”
A longtime Trump antagonist and critic, Springsteen’s rapid response song uses plain language to tell the powerful story of the pushback from Minneapolis residents against the aggressive tactics of Trump’s immigration enforcers.
“Through the winter’s ice and cold/ Down Nicollet Avenue/ A city aflame fought fire and ice/ ‘Neath an occupier’s boots/ King Trump’s private army from the DHS/ Guns belted to their coats/ Came to Minneapolis to enforce the law/ Or so their story goes,” Springsteen sings on the tune that also has lyrics paying tribute to mother of three Renée Good and ICU nurse Pretti.
“Against smoke and rubber bullets/ By the dawn’s early light/ Citizens stood for justice/ Their voices ringing through the night,” Springsteen sings as the acoustic anthem swells to a full rock roar, including recordings of Minneapolis residents chanting “ICE OUT!”
“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,” he continues.
Springsteen’s latest is in keeping with his antagonism toward Trump. Last October, Springsteen offered up a prayer for “no kings” amid the then-nationwide protests against Trump’s unprecedented power grab in his second and final term in the White House. Before playing his song “Land of Hope and Dreams” at the premiere of the biopic Deliver Me From Nowhere, Springsteen called for a “prayer for America, our community and no kings.”
Earlier in the year, after Springsteen lashed out at what he called the administration’s “corrupt, incompetent and treasonous” leadership at a concert in May, which prompted Trump, 79, to call the rocker “dumb as a rock” and a “pushy obnoxious JERK.” Then, in June, the Boss called Trump a “moron” in an interview with the New York Times in which he dubbed the president’s chaotic second term “an American tragedy.”
The rock legend, whose catalog is filled with stories about those left behind and the less fortunate strivers and chancers looking for a break, has repeatedly called to task the real estate billionaire who has reportedly seen his net worth more than double to $7.3 billion since his return to office. As in September, when Springsteen told TIME magazine that he was going to “stay true to who I’ve tried to be,” pledging not to “give these guys a free pass” when it came to speaking out against what he deemed a “corrupt, incompetent and treasonous administration.”
Springsteen endorsed Trump’s opponent, former Vice President Kamala Harris, in the 2024 election and during the first Trump administration told The Atlantic that the former reality TV star who first entered office with no political, military or policy background was a “threat to our democracy,” adding, “I don’t know if our democracy could stand another four years of his custodianship. These are all existential threats to our democracy and our American way of life.”
