Screenshot from Bruce Springsteen's song 'Streets of Minneapolis'

Bruce Springsteen released a fiery anti-ICE protest song on Wednesday slamming “King Trump’s private army” and venerating the observers and demonstrators who “stood for justice, their voices ringing through the night.”

The song from the rock legend comes just days after federal immigration agents shot and killed Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse at the Minneapolis VA, on Saturday. He is the second fatality in a month, following poet and mother Renee Good, who was killed about a mile away in her car on Jan. 7. Both victims are honored by name in Springsteen’s lyrics, with the refrain, “We’ll remember the names of those who died; On the streets of Minneapolis.”

In a statement, Springsteen said he wrote the song on Saturday following Pretti’s killing and dedicated it to “the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good.”

The title of the song echoes his 1993 song, “Streets of Philadelphia,” written for the film “Philadelphia” about the AIDS epidemic.

The song’s release underscores the cultural and historical significance of the resistance to the violent federal siege on the state still underway, which has mobilized tens of thousands in opposition and captured international attention through bystander videos documenting the federal agents’ brutality against immigrants and American citizens alike.

The song pays homage to the signature symbols of resistance — the whistle and the phone — which counter Stephen Miller and Kristi Noem’s “dirty lies.”

President Trump promised “reckoning and retribution is coming” for Minnesota and sent 3,000 federal agents and officers to the state in the “largest (Department of Homeland Security) operation ever.” But the operation, labeled a military occupation by local Democratic leaders, has turned public opinion sharply against the president and ICE.

Tens of thousands of people march in downtown Minneapolis in subzero temperatures to protest the massive presence of ICE agents over the past several weeks Friday, Jan. 23, 2026. (Photo by Nicole Neri/Minnesota Reformer)

Tens of thousands of Minnesotans marched in downtown Minneapolis Friday in a negative 30 degree windchill to protest the federal government’s continuing surge of immigration enforcement — demanding civil rights and a withdrawal of the 3,000 officers sent here by the administration of President Donald Trump.

The demonstration took place on “ICE Out of Minnesota: Day of Truth & Freedom,” a general strike supported by Minnesota unions, progressive faith leaders and community activists. Proponents encouraged all Minnesotans to stay home from work, school and refrain from shopping — disruptions of normal orders of business to protest the presence of federal immigration agents in Minnesota.

The massive protest began at The Commons Park at 2 p.m. in Minneapolis. The march ended with a rally at Target Center. 

Natasha Dockter, the first vice president of the Minneapolis Federation of Educators’ teachers chapter, handed out hand warmers to demonstrators at The Commons alongside other teachers.

“I’m out here today because what’s going on in our city is completely and totally unacceptable. It’s impacting the lives of our students and their families that we serve,” Dockter said.

Sergey Goro and Ben Daniel were visiting the Twin Cities from San Francisco and Seattle for the U.S. Pond Hockey Championships, which was delayed due to the extreme cold. 

Goro said that he’d been to No Kings protests — demonstrations against the Trump administration’s authoritarian policies — in San Francisco, but that they weren’t as large as the Minneapolis protest. 

Daniel agreed: “We can really feel that everyone’s on board here — that this is ridiculous and it’s gotta stop.” 

Daniela Morales, 16, carrying a Mexican flag, said her parents are both Mexican immigrants and that she attended the protest on behalf of people who can’t speak out. 

“I’m really glad to see everybody come out and support each other and our neighbors and fight against the administration,” Morales said. 

Other protests led to arrests

A morning protest at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport led to the arrests of roughly 100 clergy by MSP and Bloomington law enforcement Friday, according to a statement from protest organizers.

Demonstrators at the airport were standing or kneeling on the roadway outside Terminal 1’s departures area and led away by law enforcement.

Jeff Lea, a spokesperson for the Metropolitan Airports Commission, said in an email that the airport “worked in advance with event organizers to best accommodate their right to freedom of expression while also ensuring uninterrupted operations.”

“When the permitted activity went beyond the agreed-upon terms, MSP Airport Police began taking necessary action, including arrests, to protect public safety, airport security and access to Terminal 1,” Lea wrote. Lea confirmed there were around 100 arrests.

At least one demonstrator was also arrested at the nearby Whipple Federal Building, where federal agents deployed chemical irritants into a crowd of protestors, the Star Tribune reported. Around noon, the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office announced that it had given three dispersal orders for protestors to unblock an access road at the building. The Whipple Building, now a base for federal immigration operations, has been an ongoing site of protests.

Life stood still Friday for many Minnesotans. Over 700 businesses closed Friday to support the “ICE Out” day, according to Bring Me The News, which is keeping a running list.

“It is time to suspend the normal order of business to demand immediate cessation of ICE actions in MN, accountability for federal agents who have caused loss of life and abuse to Minnesota residents and call for Congress to immediately intervene,” the demonstration’s website states.

Over a dozen churches across Minnesota announced prayer vigils to “mourn, pray and plant seeds of hope with one another,” according to ISAIAH, the nonprofit coalition of Minnesota faith and community groups.

Dozens of school districts across the state closed Friday because of the dangerously cold temperatures. Minneapolis Public Schools were already planned to be closed Friday for a teacher record-keeping day.

Federal Bureau of Prisons officers on the scene where a federal immigration agent shot a man Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, in north Minneapolis. (Photo by Max Nesterak/Minnesota Reformer)

A federal immigration agent shot a man Wednesday evening after a scuffle in north Minneapolis, drawing a crowd of protesters blowing whistles and engaging in minor skirmishes with law enforcement who deployed chemical irritants. 

The shooting comes one week after the killing of Renee Good by federal immigration officer Jonathan Ross in south Minneapolis touched off a wave of protests. 

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said the man who was shot is an undocumented Venezuelan national who was pulled over in a “targeted traffic stop” but ran away. When the officer caught up to him, they got into a fight, after which two bystanders also attacked the officer, according to DHS. 

The weapons used on the federal officer: “a shovel or broom stick,” according to DHS.

“Fearing for his life and safety as he was being ambushed by three individuals, the officer fired a defensive shot to defend his life. The initial subject was hit in the leg,” DHS said. 

Their account couldn’t be confirmed. 

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said in the briefing Wednesday night that at 6:51 p.m., MPD received 911 calls about the shooting. 

The incident began on I-94, O’Hara said, where federal agents were trying to apprehend a man. The man drove towards a house on the 600 block of 24th Avenue North in north Minneapolis, where he crashed the car, ran towards a house and got into a struggle with federal agents when a federal agent shot him. 

The man went into the house and refused to come out; eventually, federal agents entered the house. The man was transported to the hospital. His injuries are not life threatening, O’Hara said. He said he heard there was a snow shovel and a broom on the scene. 

Two videos add details to what happened before and after.

One video, a livestream of a 911 call, suggests that the agent shot at the man as he was trying to escape into the house, which would contradict the Department of Homeland Security account that the federal immigration agent fired a shot defensively. 

Another video, taken by a north Minneapolis resident from across the street and shared with the Reformer, shows federal agents firing numerous times into the house, breaking a second-floor window. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said in an email to the Reformer that the agents had fired tear gas, not live rounds.

In the immediate aftermath of the killing of Renee Good, the Trump administration said she was attempting to run over the ICE officer and kill him. But bystander footage shows a chaotic scene with the officer to the side of her car when he shoots her as she seemingly tries to leave.

The Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, the state agency that investigates law enforcement shootings, was on the scene Wednesday along with FBI agents to process evidence.

It’s unclear if state authorities will be allowed to continue investigating the shooting. The U.S. Department of Justice blocked the BCA from participating in the investigation into the fatal shooting of Good, leading local prosecutors to open their own probe. 

Scores of demonstrators showed up to the scene, shouting expletives at federal agents and telling them to get out of Minneapolis. Federal agents deployed tear gas and flash bangs, while some protesters shot fireworks at law enforcement. At least two people were detained by federal agents after someone threw fireworks at the agents. At least two vehicles believed to be used by federal officers were vandalized. 

O’Hara said the crowd had crossed the line into an unlawful assembly and State Patrol and Hennepin County sheriff’s deputies responded to requests for help with crowd control. 

Mayor Jacob Frey renewed his call for residents to remain peaceful and not “take the bait.” 

“Go home,” Frey said. “We cannot counter Donald Trump’s chaos with our own brand of chaos.”

By 11:30, law enforcement and demonstrators had mostly left the scene, though some remained.

Frey also renewed his call for DHS to end its aggressive operation in the city, which the agency calls its largest operation ever. Minnesota along with the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul filed a lawsuit seeking to force DHS to end its operation, calling it a “federal invasion.” 

The roughly 3,000 federal agents in the state far outnumber Minneapolis’ roughly 600 police officers, who are struggling to respond to 911 calls and investigate crimes on top of near round-the-clock confrontations between federal agents and residents. 

“This is not sustainable. This is an impossible situation that our city is presently being put in,” Frey said. 

Shawn Jackson was parked nearby the scene with his kids in the car. A law enforcement agency — unclear which one — set off flash bangs that detonated the airbags in his car. Officers then sprayed tear gas. The Minneapolis Fire Department took the children — including a baby suffering breathing problems, Jackson’s mother said — to the hospital. 

“They out of control,” Jackson said. 

Patricia Abrams was driving past with her sister when they saw the commotion and stopped. 

She told the Reformer that the ICE incursion into Minnesota is illegal and should end.

“The public should know to get these motherf*cking ICE people outta here. They over here illegally trying to lock immigrants up. B*tch, y’all over here illegally — excuse my French — y’all here illegally trying to lock people up.” 

She added: “D’f*ck’s wrong with you?” 

Local and state politicians were also on the scene: Rep. Mohamud Noor, DFL-Minneapolis, and Minneapolis council members including Elliott Payne, Jason Chavez, Aisha Chughtai and Jamal Osman. 

The shooting happened just moments before Gov. Tim Walz made a statewide address encouraging Minnesotans to record federal immigration actions, promising that “accountability is coming” for abuses by federal officers.

Local police officers stand guard as Renee Good's car is towed away after ICE officers shot and killed a woman through her car window Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026 near Portland Avenue and 34th Street. (Photo by Nicole Neri/Minnesota Reformer)

The Trump administration made its opinion known almost immediately after an ICE agent shot and killed a woman in Minneapolis on Wednesday: The officer acted heroically in defending himself from Renee Nicole Good, who was intent on running him over with her Honda Pilot in an act of “domestic terrorism.”

“The officer, fearing for his life and other officers around him and the safety of the public, fired defensive shots. He used his training to save his own life and that of his colleagues,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a news conference in Minneapolis.

A jury might very well disagree after seeing footage of the incident, like Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey who called ICE’s claim of self-defense “bullsh*t.”

But the Trump administration seems intent on blocking local prosecutors from even bringing charges against the ICE officer, who the Star Tribune identified as Jonathan Ross.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office took the unusual step soon after the shooting of ousting the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension from the investigation into the killing.

The BCA typically investigates police shootings in the state, and was on the scene in south Minneapolis on Wednesday collecting evidence as part of a joint investigation with the FBI.

Then the U.S. Attorney’s Office “reversed course” and decided the investigation would be led solely by the FBI, said Drew Evans, BCA superintendent, in a statement.

“Without complete access to the evidence, witnesses and information collected, we cannot meet the investigative standards that Minnesota law and the public demands,” Evans said. “As a result, the BCA has reluctantly withdrawn from the investigation.”

Gov. Tim Walz during a Thursday press conference expressed doubt about the results of any investigation conducted by the federal government because Minnesota officials have been purposefully excluded.

“Now that Minnesota has been taken out of the investigation, it feels very, very difficult that we will get a fair outcome,” Walz said. “People in positions of power have already passed judgment … and told you things that are verifiably false.”

If federal investigators don’t share their findings with local prosecutors, they’ll struggle to put together a case to bring charges, said former Acting U.S. Attorney for Minnesota Anders Folk, who brought federal charges against former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin for killing George Floyd in 2020.

“I don’t know how any prosecutor could make a charging decision without facts,” Folk said. “The local authorities are going to have to figure out a way to do their own investigation if they want to be able to evaluate whether a criminal charge can be brought.”

Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty, who has jurisdiction in Minneapolis, said in a statement on Thursday that her office is searching for a way for a state level investigation to continue.

“If the FBI is the sole investigative agency, the state will not receive the investigative findings, and our community may never learn about its contents,” Moriarty said in a statement.

The FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office did not respond to requests for comment.

A spokesperson for U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, who will make charging decisions based on the FBI investigation, pointed the Reformer to a post on X when asked if she has commented on the case and if she believes the use of force was justified.

“Obstructing, impeding, or attacking federal law enforcement is a federal crime. So is damaging federal property. If you cross that red line, you will be arrested and prosecuted. Do not test our resolve,” the post says.

Who might do a local investigation is unclear. Folk, who is now running for Hennepin County attorney, said he’s not aware of any cases of officers shooting someone in Minnesota in which the BCA was not involved.

“They are the law enforcement organization that we as Minnesotans look to do this kind of investigative work,” Folk said.

If the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office is able to complete a criminal investigation and file charges, they face another difficult task: convincing a federal judge that the ICE officer was not acting reasonably in carrying out his lawful federal duties.

If state charges are filed, the officer will likely ask to move his case to federal court to assert immunity under what’s known as the Supremacy Clause, which protects federal officials from state criminal prosecution if they are reasonably carrying out their duties. Attorneys with the Department of Justice may then assist with his defense.

Whether the officer’s actions are deemed reasonable could hinge on a range of facts from his training to his duties to his subjective beliefs and the U.S. Supreme Court has provided only minimal guidance on how to answer that question, according to Bryna Godar, a staff attorney with the State Democracy Research Initiative at the University of Wisconsin Law School.

Still, she emphasized local prosecutors can and have brought charges against federal officials.

“The baseline understanding here is that states can prosecute federal officials when they violate state criminal laws,” Godar said.

If state prosecutors convince a federal judge the officer’s actions were not reasonable, they could continue bringing the case in federal court on state crimes. That’s significant because a conviction for a state crime cannot not be pardoned by the president.

Godar points in a recent article to cases going back to antebellum, when free states charged U.S. marshals for capturing enslaved people under the Fugitive Slave Act. During the Prohibition Era, local prosecutors charged federal officers for using excessive force in shutting down distilleries.

More recently, local prosecutors in Idaho brought a charge of involuntary manslaughter against an FBI sniper who shot and killed an unarmed woman during the siege on Ruby Ridge in 1992. A divided federal appeals court ruled that the case could proceed because of disputed facts over whether the agent acted “reasonably.”

“Where we see those state prosecutions going ahead is where the use of force is deemed unreasonable or excessive or unlawful,” Godar said.

But that case may offer a cautionary tale for Minnesota: The case wasn’t allowed to proceed until 2001, nearly a decade later. Then the case was dropped by the newly elected prosecutor.

Good’s killing was the ninth shooting by an immigration officer in just the past four months and at least the second killing, with all of them involving firing at people in vehicles, according to a New York Times report. On Thursday, federal agents shot two more people in Portland, Ore.

In each of the recent ICE shootings, the government has claimed the officer was acting in self-defense.

A 2024 investigation by The Trace and Business Insider found in 23 fatal shootings by ICE officers from 2015 to 2021, no officers were indicted.

Minnesota prosecutors have won convictions in recent years against officers for killing people in the line of duty — Chauvin, Kim Potter and Mohamed Noor — but they are rare and juries are generally reluctant to convict.

Yet even if a conviction seems unlikely, filing charges allows local prosecutors to register a strong protest against ICE’s aggressive enforcement actions in the state and communicate that officers may not operate with impunity. Not charging would be an admission that federal agents are immune from local accountability as the Trump administration pushes for mass deportation.

Folk said a transparent investigation with clear standards is also important for the public’s faith in the justice system.

“Minnesota has seen firsthand how important it is to do these high-profile investigations the right way,” Folk said. “We deserve a good, thorough investigation, free of any kind of influence.”

The crashed SUV after an ICE agent shot the driver at point-blank range through the window on Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026. The driver died, according to the Department of Homeland Security. (Photo by Nicole Neri/Minnesota Reformer)

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An ICE officer fatally shot a 37-year-old woman driving an SUV through her car window in south Minneapolis on Wednesday morning.

The deadly confrontation immediately ratcheted up the intensity of what was already a brutal crackdown on Minnesota and its immigrants by the Trump administration — and in a community with raw memories of the police murder of George Floyd.

Video of the incident shared with the Reformer shows masked ICE officers approach a Honda Pilot stopped in the middle of Portland Avenue near 34th Street. One officer tells the driver to “get out of the f*cking car” and tries to open the door. The driver then slowly backs up and then pulls forward, appearing to try to leave. An officer at the front of the vehicle fires three shots and the SUV travels a short distance before crashing into a parked car.

The woman was transported to Hennepin County Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead, the Minneapolis chief of police said.

A group of Minneapolis City Council members identified her in a statement as Renee Nicole Good, a Minneapolis resident. They said she was a “member of our community” and demanded justice for her killing.

The witness who took the video, Caitlin Callenson, said she was on a walk when she saw an ICE vehicle stuck in the snow. As more ICE vehicles arrived, bystanders blew whistles in protest, and the driver of the SUV tried to block the ICE vehicles.

Callenson said she did not see ICE agents attempting to detain anyone leading up to or after the shooting.

Tricia McLaughlin, assistant Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, quickly confirmed the death on X but gave a contradictory version of what happened. She accused the driver of attempting to run over and kill a law enforcement officer in an “act of domestic terrorism.”

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, at a news conference in Minnesota for the second day in a row, accused Good of “stalking and impeding” ICE operations and that the officer acted appropriately in killing her.

“He used his training to save his own life and that of his colleagues,” she said Wednesday.

Noem said ICE will continue its operations as usual after the killing in what the agency said is its largest operation ever, with more than 2,000 agents and officers in Minnesota.

U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, who represents Minneapolis, accused ICE officers of “terrorizing neighborhoods.”

“I am beyond outraged that their reckless, callous actions led to the killing of a legal observer in Minneapolis,” Omar said in a statement. “This administration has shown, yet again, that it does not care about the safety of Minnesotans.”

MAGA supporters showed video from different angles that purported to show the officer acting in self-defense, while former senior Obama administration official Tommy Vietor reshared the Reformer video on X and called the incident, “an execution by this ICE officer.” Americans can expect a debate over the shooting for years to come, regardless of the outcome of any investigations.

Law enforcement sprays demonstrators with chemical irritants at the scene where an ICE office shot and killed a 37-year-old woman in her car in Minneapolis on Jan. 7, 2026. (Photo by Nicole Neri/Minnesota Reformer)

After the shots were fired, the driver “then was completely slumped over in the vehicle,” said Emily Heller, another witness.

Federal agents wouldn’t allow a man who said he is a physician to examine the driver, Heller said. Emergency medical technicians arrived 15 minutes later, she said. First responders were unable to get close to the scene because ICE agents did not move their cars to let them through.

“There was chaos and ambulance and fire trucks couldn’t get through,” Callenson said. “They had to walk through all of the ICE vehicles on foot to try to administer first aid.”

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said he had been dreading this moment since the Department of Homeland Security began ramping up immigration enforcement in the Twin Cities.

Frey called ICE’s statement saying the shooting was in self-defense was “bullsh*t” and blasted the agency’s presence in the city saying they’re only “causing chaos and distrust.”

“To ICE, get the f*ck out of Minneapolis,” Frey said.

He urged residents to remain peaceful and not “take the bait” from the federal government.

“They want us to respond in a way that creates a military occupation in our city,” Frey said. “Let’s not let them.”

Dozens of federal agents from ICE and the FBI, as well as Minneapolis police officers and Hennepin County sheriff deputies responded to the scene.

While ICE agents left the scene, the standoff between law enforcement and protesters is ongoing.

As some federal officers attempted to leave, protestors blocked their vehicle. The officers fired a noxious gas at close range, causing distress and vomiting for many demonstrators and journalists.

Protesters hurled insults at Minneapolis Police officers, who are not supposed to assist with immigration enforcement, but were on the scene Wednesday morning.

After law enforcement cleared the scene, demonstrators placed white roses where blood stained the snow.

City Council members including Robin Wonsley and Jamal Osman addressed the crowd, saying the area was an active crime scene, and that MPD was present to investigate.

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said at a Wednesday press conference that they have yet to see information indicating that the shooting was justified and there was nothing to indicate the woman was a target of immigration enforcement activity, O’Hara said.

Minneapolis police officers secured the crime scene to preserve evidence, O’Hara said. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is now jointly conducting an investigation into the use of deadly force with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.

Hennepin County Sheriff Dawanna Witt emphasized the need for local involvement in the investigation for transparency: “With all due respect to the federal level, we do need to make sure that our local agencies are involved.”

Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty issued a statement soon after the shooting saying “pushing hard for a local investigation which is the only way to ensure full transparency and review by our office.”

U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum, a St. Paul Democrat, called on Noem, who filmed herself observing ICE actions in Minneapolis on Tuesday, to immediately stop the ICE operation “to restore order and prevent further injuries.”