As artists across genres release protest songs condemning Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Falling In Reverse frontman Ronnie Radke has chosen to meet the moment by writing a song that appears to have been researched exclusively through right-wing news coverage and social media clips played at double speed.
In recent weeks, musicians including Bruce Springsteen, Billy Bragg, and punk band NOFX have released songs condemning ICE raids, federal violence, and the broader immigration enforcement apparatus. Their songs reference specific incidents, deaths, and protests, and they treat ICE as a political and moral problem that deserves scrutiny.
Ronnie Radke listened to all of that and came away with a different conclusion.
According to people close to the project, Radke has written a new Falling In Reverse track tentatively titled Back the Badge, a mid-tempo industrial rock song that praises ICE as necessary, misunderstood, and unfairly criticized. The song reportedly frames immigration enforcement as common sense, critics as hysterical, and authority as something that deserves respect by default.
If you needed another reason to hate Ronnie Radke, this might be what you’re looking for.
The lyrics are blunt, stripped of metaphor, and structured like a social media rant set to guitars. The song allegedly includes lines about “laws being laws,” “borders existing for a reason,” and “crying on the internet doesn’t change facts.” The chorus is said to revolve around the phrase “If you broke the rules, that’s on you,” repeated until it feels less like a hook and more like a position statement.
One source who heard a demo described it as “a five minute song that argues with a person who is not in the room.”
Unlike the protest songs currently circulating, Back the Badge does not reference specific cases, victims, or policies. Instead, it leans heavily on broad assertions about order, consequences, and personal responsibility. ICE agents are described as “doing their jobs,” protesters as “performing outrage,” and musicians criticizing enforcement as “millionaires pretending to care.”
Radke has reportedly been open about what inspired the song.
“He said he got tired of seeing artists bash ICE,” said one industry insider. “He felt like nobody was saying the other side. By other side, he meant the side he sees on Fox News and in comment sections.”
That framing has drawn criticism, particularly given the context in which the anti-ICE songs were written. Springsteen’s recent work references specific killings by federal agents and situates ICE within a longer history of state violence. Bragg and NOFX explicitly call out enforcement practices and name Minneapolis as a flashpoint. Those songs are grounded in events and grief.
Radke’s song is grounded in irritation.
Fans of Falling In Reverse are split but not surprised. Radke has built a career on confrontation, grievance, and positioning himself against whatever consensus exists in his immediate vicinity. Where other artists have used protest music to express solidarity, Radke has used it to draw a line and dare people to cross it.
Merchandise concepts tied to the song reportedly include shirts reading SUPPORT ENFORCEMENT and LAW AND ORDER TOUR, rendered in the same aggressive font used for past Falling In Reverse releases. There is no indication Radke views the backlash as a problem.
“He thinks people being mad proves the song is right,” said a person familiar with his thinking. “He genuinely believes that.”
At a time when much of the music industry is responding to ICE with anger, mourning, and political clarity, Ronnie Radke has instead offered a song that sounds like it was written to win an argument, not make a point. It does not attempt to persuade so much as assert. It does not grapple with the issue so much as dismiss it.
Which, in a way, makes it one of the most honest contributions to the moment.
