Bruce Springsteen delivered a pointed message to ICE during a surprise appearance at a benefit concert over the weekend.
On Saturday (Jan. 17), the 76-year-old music icon — a longtime critic of President Donald Trump — made an unannounced performance at the 2026 Light of Day Winterfest, held at the Count Basie Theater in Red Bank, New Jersey.
When introducing his 1978 song “The Promised Land,” The Boss addressed the Trump administration with candid remarks.
“I wrote this song as an ode to American possibility,” Springsteen said. “Right now we are living through incredibly critical times. The United States, the ideals and the value for which it stood for the past 250 years, is being tested like it has never been in modern times. Those values and those ideals have never been as endangered as they are right now.”
He continued, “If you believe in the power of law and that no one stands above it, if you stand against heavily-armed masked 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, as the mayor of the city said: ICE should get the f—k out of Minneapolis. This song is for you and the memory of the mother of three and an American citizen, Renee Good.”
The Light of Day Winterfest, an annual nonprofit event that raises funds to combat Parkinson’s disease and other neurodegenerative disorders, also featured performances by the Goo Goo Dolls’ John Rzeznik, Dramarama, Willie Nile, Joe D’Urso & the Stone Caravan, the James Maddock Band, Williams Honor, Fantastic Cat, and Low Cut Connie.
Springsteen’s onstage statement comes in the wake of the fatal shooting of Renee Good by ICE officer Jonathan Ross in Minneapolis earlier in the month. Good, 37, was shot while in her car during an ICE operation. Footage from the incident shows that seconds before the shooting, Good attempted to drive away. Officials from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said she was trying to “run over” the officer.
Following Good’s death, music artists like Billie Eilish, Dave Matthews and Duran Duran spoke out against ICE, while Minneapolis residents mourned her and protested the agency’s presence in the city. Mayor Jacob Frey called for federal agents to leave, saying, “This was an agent recklessly using power that resulted in somebody dying, getting killed.”
This is not Springsteen’s first critique of the Trump administration. In a wide-ranging interview with The New York Times in June 2025, the singer-songwriter criticized the former president’s leadership and the impact of his policies on the social fabric of the country.
“It’s an American tragedy,” he said. “I think that it was the combination of the deindustrialization of the country and then the incredible increase in wealth disparity that left so many people behind. It was ripe for a demagogue. And while I can’t believe it was this moron that came along, he fit the bill for some people.”
