Bruce Springsteen releases anti-ICE song dedicated to Minneapolis | Bruce Springsteen

Bruce Springsteen has released a new song dedicated to Minnesota’s largest city in response to “state terrorism visiting Minneapolis” and the recent killings of Renee Judd and Alex Peretti at the hands of federal immigration agents in the city.

In a message shared on social media, Springsteen explained: “I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terrorism visiting the city of Minneapolis. It is dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Peretti and Rene Judd. Stay Free.”

The song’s lyrics paint a picture of the unrest, noting how “a city on fire battled fire and ice beneath the boots of the occupier,” a force that Springsteen described as “King Trump’s private army from the Department of Homeland Security.”

A particularly sad moment comes when Springsteen directly honors the victims, singing: “There were bloody footprints / Where mercy should have stood / And two dead left to die in the snow-filled streets / Alex Peretti and Renee Judd.”

Political commentary has long been a part of Springsteen’s work and public persona. Earlier this month, he condemned the administration’s “Gestapo tactics” regarding the increased presence of immigration officers during a concert, warning that the country’s founding principles “have never been more at risk than they are now.”

At the show in his home state of New Jersey, Springsteen also paid tribute to Renée Judd by dedicating his 1978 song “Promised Land” to the 37-year-old woman who was fatally shot by an ICE officer in Minnesota.

The musician has been a critic of Donald Trump since before his first term, telling an audience in London in October 2016 (a month before Trump won the presidential election for the first time): “It’s a terrible thing happening in the United States. It’s undermining the whole democratic tradition.”

At a May event in the United Kingdom, he said: “In my country, they sadistically relish the pain they inflict on loyal American workers. They are rolling back landmark civil rights legislation that led to a more just and pluralistic society. They are abandoning our great allies and siding with tyrants against those who fight for their freedom.”

The US President responded to Springsteen’s comments by calling the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member “overrated,” “not a talented man” and “an opportunistic, obnoxious idiot.”