Bruce Springsteen Accuses ICE Of Deploying ‘Gestapo Tactics’

Bruce Springsteen denounced U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s “Gestapo tactics,” and dedicated a song to Renee Good, the 37-year-old woman who was killed by an ICE agent in Minneapolis earlier this month.

Good was in her vehicle when she was shot and killed on January 7 after encountering ICE agents. While government officials alleged she had attempted to run over one of the agents with her vehicle, videos of the incident taken by both bystanders and law enforcement appeared to show her trying to pull away before the ICE agent opened fire.

During an unbilled appearance at Light of Day WinterFest in Asbury Park, N.J., on Saturday, the rocker and steadfast critic of President Donald Trump rallied concertgoers to take a stand while introducing his 1978 anthem, “The Promised Land.” Calling the song an “ode to American possibility,” Springsteen said the track was a vision of both “the beautiful but flawed country that we are” and “the country that we could be.”

The Boss decried the anti-immigration crackdown happening in many U.S. cities and warned that the ideals and the values that have long embodied the American spirit have “never been as endangered as they are right now.”

“If you stand against heavily armed masked federal troops invading an American city, and 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,” he said.

Springsteen also echoed comments made by Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey in the wake of Good’s death, and demanded: “ICE should get the fuck out of Minneapolis.”

Then he dedicated the song.

“This one is for you, and the memory of the mother of three and American citizen Renee Good.”