Trump threatens to invoke the Insurrection Act and deploy troops to 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 the 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.

The Insurrection Act is usually invoked after a state governor requests federal assistance, although some provisions allow the president to use it even against the will of the state. The last such instance occurred in the late 1950s, during the Civil Rights Movement, when some southern states resisted ending school segregation as ordered by the courts.