Trump threatens to invoke the insurrection law in Minneapolis

WashingtonUS President Donald Trump has threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act in Minneapolis after a federal agent shot a person Wednesday night. The law is an emergency power that would allow the president to send active-duty troops—not just National Guard members, who are reservists—to restore public order in exceptional circumstances. "If the corrupt politicians of Minnesota do not obey the law and stop the professional agitators and insurrectionists from attacking patriotic ICE officers who are just trying to do their jobs, I will invoke the Insurrection Act," Trump wrote to Truth Social on Thursday.

From the murder of Renee Nicole Good at the hands of an ICE agentThe administration's siege has only intensified in Minneapolis. The death of this 37-year-old mother during the mass arrests by the anti-immigration force amid Operation Metro Surge has sparked a wave of outrage in the city, where residents protest daily against the deployment of federal agents and the escalating violence. The administration, which has defended and justified the actions of the agent who killed Good instead of trying to de-escalate the tension, decided to send another 1,000 ICE agents to the city. Just as he did in Los Angeles, Trump is seeking to increase the sense of chaos and violence to justify more aggressive actions against the population.

Trump has threatened on several occasions to invoke the Insurrection Act. During the protests last June in Los Angeles against aggressive ICE immigration raids, the president also floated this possibility. Although he ultimately did not invoke it, the president ended up sending some 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 marine in the city.

Normally, the Insurrection Act has been invoked after a state governor requests federal assistance, although there are also some provisions in the law that allow the president to use it even against the will of the state. The last time such an episode was seen was in the late 1950s, during the Civil Rights Movement, when some southern states resisted ending school segregation, as ordered by the courts.

New ICE shooting

On Wednesday night, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reported that another federal agent had shot an immigrant during raids in the city. They identified the individual as a man from Venezuela who was in the country illegally and had been stopped during a traffic stop. According to the official version, the man resisted arrest, and while agents struggled to apprehend him, two other people appeared and, along with the man, attacked the agent with a snow shovel and a broom handle. It was at this point, according to the DHS, that the officer opened fire. Once again, the government's argument is that he acted in self-defense. The agent and the man who was shot are in the hospital, and the other two people accused of attempting to attack the officer are in custody. The shooting, which occurred just a week after Good's murder, has further inflamed tensions among residents and sparked renewed protests in the streets. Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara told reporters at a press conference that the FBI and Minnesota authorities were collecting evidence at the scene. Also appearing alongside O'Hara was Mayor Jacob Frey, who called the increased ICE operations an "invasion" and said he had seen "disgusting and intolerable conduct from ICE." "It cannot be that in one place in the United States we have two government entities that are literally fighting each other," Frey said.