Multiple high-profile heavy metal bands have taken to social media this week to condemn the United States Immigration And Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) recent actions in Minneapolis, Minnesota, which include two fatal shootings of American citizens.
ICE and US Border Patrol have been heavily involved in the Twin Cities, Minneapolis and St Paul, since the Department Of Homeland Security (DHS) announced Operation Metro Surge in December 2025.
On January 7, a masked ICE agent shot and killed Renee Good, a 37-year-old American woman, as she was behind the wheel of her car. On January 24, following large anti-ICE protests, local nurse Alex Pretti, also 37, was wrestled to the ground by six federal agents; one agent then shot and killed him. The killings led to a global outcry and intense criticism of President Donald Trump’s administration, who’ve attempted to characterise both Good and Pretti as domestic terrorists.
Last weekend, Aaron Turner – former singer/guitarist of post-metal pioneers Isis and current member of Sumac, Old Man Gloom and more – released a t-shirt that depicts the word ‘no’ written in block letters and made to resemble ice, with proceeds going to families in the Minneapolis area. Metalcore vanguards Converge endorsed the piece of merch via social media on Sunday (January 25).
“We are Converge and we stand with the good people of Minnesota,” the New England band write. “We stand against sanctioned violence against our neighbours and communities. Our good friend @aaronbturner made this artwork.”
On Monday, January 26, Gold-selling California post-hardcore band Thrice issued a statement declaring that they stand for “love, empathy, and compassion for all people against all forms of oppression”.
“We applaud and stand in solidarity [with] the patriots in the streets of Minneapolis who are exercising their first amendment rights in support of their neighbours and in defiance of an increasingly authoritarian regime, and we mourn those who have lost their lives at the hands of state violence,” the four-piece wrote in part. “ICE out!”
Fellow California post-hardcore outfit Letlive, fronted by Jason Aalon Butler of Fever 333, spoke out the same day.
“We encourage our friends here to choose an act of resistance,” the band said as part of a social media post, “whether through direct political engagement or via daily decisions to support or boycott. Resistance is not symbolic; it is active, deliberate, and necessary. Although the weight of such realities is all but crippling, we must call upon each other to help carry and eventually conquer this burden.”
On Tuesday (January 27), Randy Blythe, lead singer of five-time Grammy-nominated Virginia band Lamb Of God, published a lengthy letter lambasting the Trump administration via his Substack. He writes that he is “so goddamned tired” of the “open moral collapse” the US government is going through and urges fans, “Fuck the fascists. Do not comply.”
Blythe also attacks Trump for his past friendship with deceased human trafficker and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. He goes on to call the president a “dementia-riddled sociopath” (Trump’s team have repeatedly pushed back against concerns regarding his mental health).
“Wake up, motherfuckers – business as usual is done,” Blythe writes. “I am neither Democrat nor Republican, so I don’t have a partisan dog in this fight. I just want this dementia-riddled sociopath and his cabinet of freaks removed from office and replaced with someone with a least semblance of care for the common good, hopefully before he drags us into World War III.”
No stranger to scathing political commentary, Blythe has often used his position as Lamb Of God’s singer to express his beliefs about the world. He was strongly against many of President George W. Bush’s policies, with the US’s military involvement in the Middle East after 9/11 inspiring many lyrics on the albums As The Palaces Burn (2003) and Ashes Of The Wake (2004).
In a press release for Lamb Of God’s upcoming album Into Oblivion, out on March 13 via Century Media, Blythe said the band chose the title because “that’s where we’re heading”. He added: “In general, the album is about the ongoing and rapid breakdown of the social contract, particularly here in America. Things are acceptable now that would’ve horrified people just 20 years ago.”
Following the intense controversy around the Good and Pretti killings, Newsweek reported on Tuesday (January 27) that ICE is beginning to scale back its presence in Minnesota and is ordering some of its agents to leave the state. Trump told The Wall Street Journal, “At some point we will leave. We’ve done, they’ve done a phenomenal job.”
