Bruce Springsteen has denounced the Trump administration's immigration enforcement surge as 'Gestapo tactics' during a concert in his home state of New Jersey. The musician told the crowd that America's core values 'have never been as endangered as they are right now'.
Springsteen dedicated his 1978 song The Promised Land to Renee Good, a 37-year-old American citizen shot and killed by an ICE officer in Minnesota. He urged the audience to send a message to President Trump, saying: 'If you believe in democracy, in liberty, if you believe truth still matters... if you stand against heavily armed masked federal troops invading an American city, using Gestapo tactics against our fellow citizens... then send a message to this president.'
The singer, who has previously criticised Trump's authoritarian leanings, described the song as being about 'both the beautiful but flawed country that we are, and to the country that we could be'. He added: 'This song is for you, and in the memory of a mother of three and an American citizen, Renee Good.'
In May, during a UK show, Springsteen accused the administration of taking 'sadistic pleasure in the pain they inflict on loyal American workers' and rolling back historic civil rights legislation. Trump has responded by calling Springsteen 'highly overrated', 'not a talented guy' and a 'pushy, obnoxious jerk'.
