President Trump said Thursday that he is prepared to invoke the Insurrection Act in Minnesota if state leaders fail to halt violent confrontations targeting Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, escalating federal warnings amid growing unrest in Minneapolis.
The Insurrection Act grants the president authority to deploy active-duty military forces and place National Guard units under federal control in situations involving widespread disorder or rebellion against the federal government.
“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, which many Presidents have done before me,” Trump warned on Truth Social.
The president’s statement followed a violent encounter Wednesday night in Minneapolis during a traffic stop involving an ICE agent and a suspected illegal immigrant. Authorities say two people intervened during the stop, striking the officer with a shovel and a broom handle.
According to the Department of Homeland Security, the suspect managed to break free and then assaulted the officer with either a broomstick or a shovel, prompting the agent to fire a shot that struck the individual in the leg.
Federal officials said the suspect, identified as a Venezuelan national, has since been taken into custody.
The incident came just a week after another ICE officer fatally shot activist Renee Good after she allegedly drove her SUV toward him.
Together, the two incidents have sparked several consecutive days of demonstrations and unrest across the Twin Cities area.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said that more than 3,000 federal immigration officers, including personnel from ICE and the Border Patrol, have been sent into the city — a presence far exceeding the city’s roughly 600 police officers.
“This is not sustainable,” Frey told reporters late Wednesday. “This is an impossible situation that our city is presently being put in, and at the same time we are trying to find a way forward, to keep people safe, to protect our neighbors, to maintain order.”
The administration has intensified immigration enforcement in Minnesota following disclosures of widespread benefits fraud that officials say has strained the state’s systems.
Governor Tim Walz’s office did not immediately comment on Trump’s threat to invoke the Insurrection Act.
Earlier this week, Minnesota and Illinois jointly filed suit against the Trump administration seeking to halt the expanded ICE presence. Federal officials argue the increase is necessary due to state laws that restrict cooperation between local police departments and immigration authorities.
Trump issued the warning about invoking the Insurrection Act in a Truth Social post dated Jan. 15.
The statute was last used in 1992, when President George H.W. Bush authorized military involvement during the Los Angeles riots that erupted after the acquittal of police officers charged in the beating of Rodney King.
Trump has previously explored other legal avenues to deploy National Guard forces in states such as Illinois, but those efforts were abandoned after courts blocked them.
National Guard troops remain stationed in Washington, D.C., where the federal government exercises broader authority than it does over state and municipal jurisdictions.
{Matzav.com}
Go for it. Minnesota is a State full of white liberal trash and weak kneed Rino’s. A bunch of weirdos live there. It’s time to take back control.