Trump Threatens to Invoke Insurrection Act in Response to Minnesota Protests

President Donald Trump is escalating his standoff with Minnesota leaders, threatening to invoke the Insurrection Act — a rarely used 19th-century law that would allow the U.S. military to be deployed domestically — as protests continue to spread in Minneapolis. The unrest began after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer fatally shot 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good last week and intensified again Wednesday when a federal agent shot a Venezuelan man in the leg during a traffic stop. On Truth Social, Trump warned that if Minnesota officials do not “obey the law” and stop what he called “professional agitators and insurrectionists” attacking ICE agents, he would activate the Insurrection Act to “quickly put an end” to what he described as chaos in the state.

The Insurrection Act allows a president to deploy active-duty military forces for civilian law enforcement under limited circumstances, bypassing restrictions in the Posse Comitatus Act. It has been used only a few dozen times in U.S. history and would almost certainly face immediate legal challenges. Trump has previously threatened to invoke the law during unrest in Democratic-led cities but has so far relied on National Guard deployments instead. Legal scholars note the statute is broadly written but traditionally viewed as an emergency option when civil order has completely broken down.

The confrontation comes amid what the Department of Homeland Security says is the largest ICE operation in the agency’s history. Thousands of federal agents were deployed to Minnesota following a major welfare-fraud investigation that drew national attention to the state’s Somali immigrant community. Governor Tim Walz estimates between 2,000 and 3,000 federal agents are now operating in Minnesota. He has urged residents to protest peacefully, document agents’ actions, and appealed directly to Trump to “turn the temperature down,” warning against what he described as a campaign of retribution.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the administration has no plans to pull ICE out of Minnesota and defended the agents’ actions as lawful, describing conditions in Minneapolis as violent. Noem confirmed she discussed the Insurrection Act with the president and said he has the constitutional authority to use it, while expressing hope state leaders would work with federal officials to remove criminals from the streets. The White House said the law remains a tool at the president’s disposal and emphasized it has been used sparingly by past presidents.

At the city level, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey struck a noticeably calmer tone Wednesday night, calling for peace after days of heated rhetoric. Frey urged protesters not to “take the bait” from the president and warned that violence only harms undocumented residents. He said the situation is unsustainable, arguing city police are being put in an impossible position as residents demand they confront federal agents. While Frey again criticized ICE’s presence and tactics, he said Minneapolis cannot tolerate a scenario where different levels of government are openly clashing in the streets.

The mayor’s remarks marked a sharp shift from last week, when he angrily told ICE to leave the city following Good’s death. Federal officials responded by blaming local leaders for what they called hostile and inflammatory rhetoric toward ICE. With protests continuing, federal agents remaining in place, and the president openly raising the possibility of deploying the military, Minnesota has become the focal point of a broader national debate over immigration enforcement, states’ rights, and how far a president can go to restore order inside the United States.