President Donald Trump on Thursday morning said he may invoke the Insurrection Act to “put an end” to the protests in Minnesota against immigration enforcement officers in the area.
“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, and quickly put an end to the travesty that is taking place in that once great State,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
His statement follows the unrest and protests that have happened daily since the killing of Renee Good, who was fatally shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer last week.
On Wednesday, another man was shot by ICE officers, and is reportedly in stable condition. The Department of Homeland Security said law enforcement officers were conducting a traffic stop on a man from Venezuela who they said was in the country illegally, when the man attempted to evade arrest by fleeing the scene in his vehicle.
The man crashed the car and began running on foot. An officer attempted to apprehend the man, who was resisting and assaulting the officer, DHS said.
Two bystanders nearby began to attack the officer with a snow shovel and broom handle. The officer feared for his life, and “fired a defensive shot to defend his life,” according to a statement from DHS. The first Venezuelan man was shot in the leg. The officer and man were taken to the hospital and the two bystanders have been arrested, DHS said.
“The attack on another brave member of law enforcement took place while Minnesota’s top leaders, Governor Walz and Mayor Frey, are actively encouraging an organized resistance to ICE and federal law enforcement officers,” the department said.
The Minnesota Star-Tribune reported that protesters defaced and ransacked vehicles believed to belong to federal agents during the protests.
Gov. Walz addresses Minnesotans
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz issued a state address on Wednesday evening, where he addressed the citizens of his state and criticized the Trump administration’s enforcement efforts in the area in recent days.
“Let’s be very, very clear, this long ago stopped being a matter of immigration enforcement. Instead, it’s a campaign of organized brutality against the people of Minnesota by our own federal government,” he said.
“As bad as it’s been, Donald Trump intends for it to get worse. This week, he went online to promise that ‘the day of retribution and reckoning is coming.’ That’s a direct threat against the people of this state who dared to vote against him three times and who continue to stand up for freedom with courage and empathy and profound grace,” Walz continued.
Walz also asked Minnesotans to continue to record ICE actions in the state.
“Help us create a database of the atrocities against Minnesotans, not just to establish a record for posterity, but to bank evidence for future prosecution,” he said.
Later, on Thursday, Walz released a statement he said was a “direct appeal to the President: Let’s turn the temperature down.”
He also issued a call for Minnesotans to “speak out loudly, urgently, but also peacefully. We cannot fan the flames of chaos. That’s what he wants.”
Noem says ICE officers are following the law
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem spoke to the press on Thursday, where she said that everything the ICE officers have done is “according to the law” and following protocols used for years.
“They’re doing everything correctly, and over and over again in litigation, in the courts, we’ve proven that they’ve done the right (thing),” she said.
Noem pushed back against accusations that new ICE officers received little training and said they were “very highly trained” for the operations they’re doing across the country.
What is the Insurrection Act?
The Insurrection Act is a set of federal laws that give the president the authority to deploy the U.S. military or federalize the National Guard for law enforcement purposes.
Under normal circumstances, the president isn’t able to send the U.S. military or National Guard troops to cities to conduct civilian law enforcement. Invoking the Insurrection Act temporarily suspends the Posse Comitatus Act.
The act typically isn’t used often and has only been invoked about 30 times throughout history, like at the start of the Civil War or during the Los Angeles riots in 1992.
The Insurrection Act is different than what Trump used previously to federalize National Guard troops in Los Angeles and other cities, but he has threatened to invoke it several times before.