Bruce Springsteen’s Anti-ICE Protest Song ‘Streets of Minneapolis’ Debuts at No. 1 After Just Two Days on Sale
Bruce Springsteen’s blistering protest track aimed at what he calls “state terror” by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has surged to the top of the U.S. music sales charts.
“Streets of Minneapolis” was the highest-selling song in the country last week, according to Billboard. The track debuted at No. 1 on the Digital Song Sales chart for the final week of January, moving 16,000 downloads, based on data from Luminate.
Remarkably, the song reached the top despite being available for only two days during the tracking period.
Related Trump Slams Grammys, Threatens to Sue Trevor Noah After On-Air Epstein Joke During Awards Show
Springsteen, long known for his outspoken political views and frequent criticism of President Donald Trump, said in a social media post that he wrote the song “in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis.”
The release followed two fatal incidents last month in Minneapolis involving federal immigration authorities. In January, a federal immigration enforcement officer shot and killed 37-year-old Renee Good during an operation tied to the Department of Homeland Security’s immigration crackdown in Minnesota. Less than three weeks later, Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse, was killed in an encounter with a Customs and Border Patrol agent.
Springsteen dedicated the song to “the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good.”
In the lyrics, the 76-year-old rock icon directly criticizes the Trump administration and DHS, singing: “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.”
Another line references the fatal encounter involving Pretti: “Trump’s federal thugs beat up on his face and his chest, then we heard the gunshots and Alex Pretti lay in the snow, dead.”
Springsteen also names Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller in the song, accusing officials of spreading “dirty lies.”
The Department of Homeland Security pushed back. Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told The Hill: “We eagerly await Mr. Springsteen’s songs dedicated to the thousands of American citizens killed by criminal illegal aliens.” She added that ICE agents are “saving lives by arresting the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens.”
Despite the backlash, the song’s rapid rise to the top of the charts underscores how music and politics continue to collide in the current national climate.
