President Donald Trump on Thursday warned he could invoke the rarely used Insurrection Act of 1807 to send federal troops into Minnesota to suppress ongoing protests sparked by his administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement in Minneapolis.
The escalation followed a confrontation Wednesday in which a federal immigration officer wounded a man after being attacked with a shovel and a broom handle, inflaming tensions already high since an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent fatally shot Minneapolis resident Renee Good earlier this month.
Protesters demonstrate against the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement after federal agents fatally shot 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good during an ICE operation, Minneapolis, Jan. 15, 2026. (AA Photo)
Trump has repeatedly threatened to deploy the U.S. military or federalize the National Guard under the Insurrection Act to enforce federal authority over the objections of state leaders, a move that would bypass traditional limits on using active-duty forces for domestic law enforcement.
“If the corrupt politicians of Minnesota don’t obey the law and stop the professional agitators and insurrectionists from attacking the patriots of ICE, who are only trying to do their job, I will institute the Insurrection Act, which many presidents have done before me, and quickly put an end to the travesty that is taking place in that once great state,” Trump said in a social media post.
