Bruce Springsteen releases protest song 'Streets of Minneapolis' over ICE killings
The musician wrote and recorded the song in response to two fatal shootings by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis this month.
January 28, 2026
Bruce Springsteen released a new song Wednesday titled "Streets of Minneapolis" in response to two fatal shootings by federal immigration enforcement agents in the city this month.
Springsteen wrote the song Saturday and recorded it Tuesday, according to a statement posted on his social media account. He dedicated the track to "the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good."
Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care unit nurse, was killed by ICE agents following a confrontation on Saturday. Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother of three, was killed by an ICE agent in a separate confrontation in Minneapolis on January 7.
"I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis," Springsteen said in his statement.
The song's lyrics describe the immigration enforcement operations in Minneapolis. Springsteen sings of "a city aflame fought fire and ice 'neath an occupier's boots," identifying the force as "King Trump's private army from the DHS." The lyrics reference "Trump's federal thugs" and "[Stephen] Miller and [Kristi] Noem's dirty lies," and call for ICE to leave the city immediately.
In the song, Springsteen honors the victims directly, singing: "There were bloody footprints / Where mercy should have stood / And two dead left to die on snow-filled streets / Alex Pretti and Renee Good." The lyrics describe confrontations, noting "I.C.U. nurse beaten in the face and chest" and reference gunfire, singing "Then we heard the shots and Alex Pretti lay dead in the snow."
The song's title echoes Springsteen's 1993 hit "Streets of Philadelphia." The new track employs a protest song style reminiscent of folk musician Phil Ochs.
Prior to Pretti's death, Springsteen made a surprise appearance at the Light of Day benefit in Red Bank, New Jersey, where he denounced ICE and spoke against the killing of Renee Good. At that event, he stated: "If you believe in the power of law and that no one stands above it, if you stand against heavily armed federal agents murdering unarmed citizens in the streets of an American city, then you stand with us."