Singers Billie Eilish and Katy Perry are among a growing number of celebrities speaking out against US immigration officials after federal agents shot and killed two American citizens during protests over enforcement operations.
The killings this month of mother-of-three Renee Nicole Good and intensive care nurse Alex Pretti have sparked demonstrations against US President Donald Trump's surge of agents in Minnesota.
In an Instagram post on Monday, Perry urged her fans to “turn anger into action” and to write to their US senators to oppose funding for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, or ICE, which is a part of the Department of Homeland Security.
“Call and ask to speak with your senator,” she said, sharing a sample script citizens can use to urge lawmakers to block the passing of the Homeland Security Appropriations Bill.
“I'm sick of watching lawful citizens and non-citizens being arrested at their jobs, assaulted at peaceful protests, pulled out of their vehicles, blinded by munitions, and getting shot and killed by ICE,” the script reads.
Democratic senators are vowing to oppose the bill unless significant restrictions are imposed on ICE. If the bill does not pass by midnight on Friday, funding for the Department of Homeland Security and the other agencies will run out, resulting in a partial shutdown.
Singer Eilish also posted several Instagram Stories, including one calling Pretti, 37, “a real American hero”. The ICU nurse was repeatedly shot after being tackled by ICE agents in a confrontation caught on video in Minneapolis.
Eilish also called out the silence of other stars, saying: “Hey my fellow celebrities, you gonna speak up?”
Her brother and collaborator Finneas, who is also a singer and producer, posted a video denouncing ICE and the US government's reaction to the killing of Pretti. “This guy was being beaten to a pulp on the ground. He didn’t draw his weapon. He had a weapon on him legally,” he said.
Pretti's killing followed a previous incident also in Minneapolis earlier this month, where an ICE agent killed Good, 37, after a brief confrontation while she was in her car.
Minneapolis is the most populous city in Minnesota, where White House officials have deployed about 3,000 ICE agents and the US Border Patrol as part of Operation Metro Surge, a large-scale immigration enforcement operation.
The Last of Us star Pedro Pascal also shared several posts, one with drawings of the two latest victims with the message: “Pretti Good reason for a national strike.”
“ICE has killed nine people so far in 2026. They all deserve remembrance. They all deserve justice,” another post reads.
Oscar-winning actress Jamie Lee Curtis also shared a similar drawing of Good and Pretti with the caption: “These were Americans! Shot by our government!”
Another post by Curtis showed a series of photos of protesters against ICE in Minnesota, which she captioned: “Let the ICE storm of resistance ring loudly.”
At the Sundance Film Festival in Utah, actress Natalie Portman wore a pin that read “Ice Out” on the red carpet, a variation of which was also seen on several celebrities at the Golden Globes earlier this month.
“What's going on in our country is absolutely horrific,” Portman said at a press conference where she was promoting her latest film The Gallerist. “What the Trump government is doing is really the worst of the worst of humanity.”
The pins were also seen on actresses Olivia Wilde and Zoey Deutch.
“I’m appalled and sickened. We can’t go another day just sort of accepting this as our new norm. It’s outrageous,” Wilde told Variety on the red carpet. “People are being murdered. And, I don’t want to normalise seeing people being murdered on the internet. It’s hideous. And so if we can do anything out here to support the movement to cast ICE out, to delegitimise this unbelievably criminal organisation, then that’s what we should be doing.”
Author and television personality Martha Stewart said she was inspired by her 14-year-old granddaughter to speak up against ICE.
“My granddaughter wrote this to me yesterday,” she shared on Instagram, along with a message from the teenager that read: “I'm not sure it's excusable to not be speaking up right now.”
“She is 14 and sensitive to what is going on in our country, as we all should be,” Stewart wrote. “l am disheartened and sad each and every day that we cannot demonstrate our sympathy for the beleaguered, that we are told immigrants, which most of us are or have descended from, are unwelcome, that we cannot show our frustration in peaceful demonstrations, and that we can be attacked and even killed by federal troops. Things must and have to change quickly and peacefully.”
The National Basketball Players Association, the union for NBA players, also issued a statement on Sunday, saying players “can no longer remain silent”.
“Now more than ever, we must defend the right to freedom of speech and stand in solidarity with the people in Minnesota protesting and risking their lives to demand justice,” it read.
