Trump warns of invoking Insurrection Act as Minnesota protests grow

US President Donald Trump threatened to deploy US military forces to Minnesota in order to quell protests in response to violent encounters involving federal immigration agents. 

“If the corrupt politicians of Minnesota don’t obey the law and stop the professional agitators and insurrectionists from attacking the Patriots of I.C.E., who are only trying to do their job, I will institute the INSURRECTION ACT,” Trump posted on social media Thursday.  

The 1807 law allows the president to use regular military troops on US soil for domestic law enforcement. It was last invoked during the 1992 riots in Los Angeles. 

Trump’s ultimatum could further fray tensions in Minneapolis, where on Wednesday a federal officer shot a man in the leg. The incident occurred one week after the fatal shooting of a local woman who was a US citizen by an ICE agent, which touched off the demonstrations.  

 

Protesters and federal agents have engaged in increasingly tense standoffs over the past few days. Video footage has shown officers using tear gas and flash bangs, while Minneapolis’ police chief said some demonstrators launched fireworks at federal personnel. 

The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees Trump’s immigration crackdown, alleged that the Wednesday shooting happened when the officer was ambushed by men wielding a snow shovel and broom handle, while the agent was trying to apprehend a Venezuelan man who fled a traffic stop. The account has not been independently verified. 

Democratic state and local leaders in Minnesota have condemned the federal presence there, saying it has wreaked havoc on their communities. The Trump administration has defended it as necessary to remove migrants living illegally in the US.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz on Wednesday called the operations “a campaign of organized brutality against the people of Minnesota by our own federal government,” accusing agents of pulling over people indiscriminately, including US citizens, and detaining residents at grocery stores, bus stops and schools.  

“No matter what led up to this incident, the situation we are seeing in our city is not sustainable,” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey posted on X early Thursday. During an earlier press conferece, Frey implored angry residents “not to take the bait.”

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

Trump for years has threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act, which he’s called “the strongest power a president has,” but has yet to follow through.  

His latest comments indicate it has emerged as an option to carry out his months-long effort to exert greater federal control over Democrat-run cities and states. Implementing the law would enable Trump to circumvent the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, which prohibits the use of the US military to enforce domestic laws. 

Until now, Trump has deployed National Guard personnel to Democratic jurisdictions. But the president said last month he was withdrawing them from Chicago, Los Angeles and Portland after the deployments suffered a setback at the Supreme Court. 

“We will come back, perhaps in a much different and stronger form, when crime begins to soar again,” he posted on Dec. 31. 

In December, the Supreme Court rejected an emergency request by the Trump administration to allow Guard troops in Chicago. Trump’s team had argued they were necessary to maintain order and support sweeping federal immigration raids. 

In a 6-3 decision, the court left in place a lower court ruling blocking the soliders from being sent in. The majority said that the government failed to identify any “exceptional” circumstances that are legally required to exist in order to have troops execute laws. The decision could bolster legal challenges to other Guard deployments. 

Trump’s dalliances with the Insurrection Act date back to the nationwide protests in 2020 following the police killing of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man.  

Then-Defense Secretary Mark Esper said at the time that active-duty military forces should only be used as a “last resort” in domestic law enforcement.