Trump Threatens Insurrection Act In Minnesota Over ICE—Could Deploy Troops On U.S. Soil

Topline

President Donald Trump threatened Thursday to invoke the Insurrection Act in Minnesota over protests against immigration agents following the killing of Renee Good, further escalating tensions and potentially marking the first time Trump uses the Insurrection Act, which allows him to deploy the military on U.S. soil.

ICE and other federal officers detain a person during protests in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on January 13.

AFP via Getty Images

Key Facts

Trump said on Truth Social he will use the Insurrection Act in Minnesota if the state’s Democratic leaders “don’t obey the law and stop the professional agitators and insurrectionists from attacking the Patriots of I.C.E.”

Protests have broken out in Minnesota over ICE’s presence in the state after Good was shot and killed by a federal immigration agent, sparking more clashes between protesters and federal agents, and tensions further intensified after agents shot a Venezuelan migrant in the leg on Wednesday.

The Insurrection Act allows presidents to deploy the military on U.S. soil in the case of “unlawful obstructions, combinations, or assemblages, or rebellion” that “make it impracticable to enforce the laws of the United States” through normal “judicial proceedings.”

While Trump has already sent military troops to other U.S. cities, this would be the first time he sends them under the powers of the Insurrection Act, which would be harder to challenge in court.

What Is The Insurrection Act?

The Insurrection Act is a law dating back to 1792 that gives presidents broad authority to use the U.S. military to quell insurrections and other rebellions. It’s the main exception to the Posse Comitatus Act, which otherwise typically prevents presidents from using the military domestically. Presidents have invoked the law approximately 30 times over the course of U.S. history. It was most recently used in 1992 in response to riots in Los Angeles, but the last time it was invoked without a state governor asking the president to use it—as would be the case here—was during the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s.

What Could Trump Do Under The Insurrection Act?

The Insurrection Act broadly allows Trump to use the military to enforce federal law and perform domestic law enforcement actions. That means the military could arrest people for any alleged violations of federal law, and could take other actions typically done by law enforcement, like apprehending protesters. The law only allows troops to enforce federal law, however, and does not give the military any authority over enforcing state or local laws. Trump’s “discretion is not infinite” under the Insurrection Act, Joseph Nunn, a counsel in the Brennan Center’s Liberty and National Security Program who studies domestic use of the U.S. military, previously told Forbes in August. “There is no circumstance in which the President can deploy the military into a city and a state … and direct the military to enforce state and local law.”

Key Background

Good, a U.S. citizen, was shot and killed by ICE agent Jonathan Ross last week, sparking a national controversy and further inflaming tensions over the Trump administration’s immigration agenda and harsh enforcement tactics. Her killing set off further tensions in Minnesota and protests have continued in the state, leading to more clashes between ICE agents and residents. The Department of Homeland Security then confirmed a man was shot in the leg in Minneapolis by ICE agents on Wednesday, claiming the shooting was a “defensive shot” after the man resisted arrest. That news led hundreds of protesters to gather and be met by “heavily armed Border Patrol agents,” according to The New York Times, who the Minnesota Star Tribune reported used “chemical irritants” against the protesters. Trump’s post Thursday marks the clearest sign yet the president intends to invoke the Insurrection Act, though reports have previously suggested the president considered using it in other U.S. cities earlier in his presidency.