No longer confined to partisans and activists, backlash against Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown has begun to break out across American culture, spanning the worlds of business, sports and entertainment, according to The Associated Press.
The criticism comes as Trump remains in the middle of a confrontational fight over Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s enforcement approach, particularly in Minnesota after two U.S. citizens were killed in the state and communities there felt besieged by the crackdown. The outcry intensified as the week progressed after the death of Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old Veterans Affairs nurse fatally shot during a confrontation with federal agents.
Several high-profile voices in media and tech took aim at ICE. Bruce Springsteen released a new song Wednesday, “The Streets of Minneapolis,” that slammed Trump’s enforcement actions and directly referenced Pretti’s death. OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman told employees that “what’s happening with ICE is going too far,” while lifestyle icon Martha Stewart wrote to her 2.9 million Instagram followers that “we can be attacked and even killed,” in a post this week.
The corporate reaction has also spread upward to major employers. Apple CEO Tim Cook issued a memo to employees saying he was “heartbroken by the events in Minneapolis,” a message first reported by Bloomberg News. On social media, tech billionaire and venture capitalist Vinod Khosla condemned “macho ICE vigilantes running amuck,” and tech podcaster Jason Calacanis warned that Trump would face “dire consequences” if he did not make sweeping changes among the people running the immigration crackdown.
At the same time, not all responses come from the political left. Republican strategist Doug Heye said it was too soon to know whether Trump’s efforts to manage fallout would work, saying he had been in communication with Republican leaders across Washington who worried the escalating situation could jeopardize control of Congress in the fall midterm elections. Heye said it was “very clear that the administration is spooked.” Trump loyalist Laura Loomer, who told the AP the president’s ear, urged Trump to “ramp up mass deportations even more,” adding that if Minnesota was a “barometer,” the focus should be on deporting as many Muslims as possible.
Trump, for his part, has tried to shift the conversation about enforcement tactics. The AP reported that the president dispatched border czar Tom Homan to Minnesota to replace Greg Bovino, a Border Patrol commander who had become a lightning rod. Trump also told Fox News in a Tuesday interview that “We’re going to de-escalate a little bit,” and he described Bovino as “very good,” while saying Bovino was “a pretty out-there kind of a guy” and that “maybe it wasn’t good here.”
Even with that rhetorical softening, Trump pushed back on suggestions that he was scaling back operations. In a social media post, he warned Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey that Frey was “PLAYING WITH FIRE” by refusing to enforce federal immigration laws. The AP said thousands of federal agents remained in Minnesota and that operations had expanded into Maine as well.
The sports world has also become more vocal. Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch called the shootings “unconscionable” and expressed support for protesters, while NBA player Steph Curry said “There’s a lot of change that needs to happen,” adding that he had been glued to coverage of the latest Minnesota shooting. Guerschon Yabusele of the New York Knicks wrote on X the day after Pretti’s killing that he could not remain silent and that “What’s happening is beyond comprehension,” saying, “We’re talking about murders here,” and adding, “I stand with Minnesota.”
Public opinion has been shifting as well. The AP reported that a Jan. 8-11 AP-NORC poll found that just 38% of U.S. adults approve of how Trump is handling immigration, down from 49% in March, conducted shortly after the first shooting death of a U.S. citizen in Minnesota. The AP also said Republicans’ approval on immigration fell from 88% in March to 76% in the January poll, and that a separate Fox News poll found that 59% of voters described ICE as “too aggressive,” a 10-point increase since last July.
In its reporting, the AP said this cultural revolt—spanning music, corporate leadership, sports and technology—could threaten to undermine Trump’s signature domestic priority, the Republican Party’s grip on power, and his own political strength ahead of midterm elections.