Springsteen denounces ICE deployments and Renee Good’s killing

NEW JERSEY - Bruce Springsteen denounced the Trump administration’s deployment of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in cities across the United States and dedicated a song to Ms Renee Good, the woman recently killed by an ICE agent in Minneapolis, at a surprise performance in New Jersey on Jan 17.

Appearing at the Light of Day Winterfest in Red Bank, New Jersey, Springsteen told the crowd: “We are living through incredibly critical times. The United States, the ideals and the values for which it stood for the past 250 years is being tested as it has never been in modern times,” according to videos that circulated online.

He added: “If you believe in the power of the law and that no one stands above it, if you stand against heavily armed mass federal troops invading an American city 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.”

Springsteen went on to quote Mayor Jacob Frey of Minneapolis, who had used an expletive to tell ICE to leave the city. He then dedicated his song The Promised Land (1978), which tells of a young working-class man striving for a brighter future, to Good.

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

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Sunday.

Ms Good was fatally shot by an ICE agent, Mr Jonathan Ross, on Jan 7 in Minneapolis. Mr Ross was standing near the front of Ms Good’s car and fired his gun after she drove toward him and then turned to the right.

US President Donald Trump and administration officials have said that Ms Good had “weaponised her vehicle” against the agent. NYTIMES