WASHINGTON — President Trump on Thursday threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act against Minnesota if the state declines to stop rioters from attacking Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers.
Under the Insurrection Act, the president can deploy the military and federalize the National Guard in response to civil disorder or an armed rebellion against the US 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.
Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act against Minnesota if the state declines to stop rioters from attacking ICE officers. REUTERS
Tear gas surrounds federal law enforcement officers as they leave a scene after a shooting on Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, in Minneapolis. AP
Under the Insurrection Act, the president can deploy the military and federalize the National Guard in response to civil disorder or an armed rebellion against the US government. AP
Trump’s threat comes in the aftermath of an ICE agent shooting a suspected illegal immigrant during a scuffle at a traffic stop on Wednesday evening in Minneapolis. Officials allege that two individuals attacked the officer on behalf of the suspected illegal immigrant with a shovel and a broom handle.
The subject of the stop then got loose and attacked the officer with either a broomstick or a shovel before getting shot in the leg, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
The individual, a Venezuelan man, is now in federal custody.
The shooting took place one week after another ICE officer fatally shot activist Renee Good, who had accelerated her SUV in his direction.
Those two flashpoints have triggered days of protests in the Twin Cities.
More than 3,000 immigration officers have been deployed to Minneapolis, including ICE and Border Patrol personnel, according to Mayor Jacob Frey, a number which dwarfs the roughly 600 officers of the city’s police department.
“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.”
ICE and other federal officers clash with protesters in Minneapolis. AFP via Getty Images
Tear gas tossed by federal immigration agents fills the air as agents clash with residents while trying to retreat following a house raid on Jan. 13, 2026, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Getty Images
More than 3,000 immigration officers have been deployed to Minneapolis, including ICE and Border Patrol personnel, according to Mayor Jacob Frey. Getty ImagesTrump’s team began stepping up its crackdown on illegal immigration in Minnesota in the wake of revelations about rampant benefits fraud roiling the state.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Trump’s threat.
Minnesota and Illinois sued the Trump administration earlier this week in an effort to force it to end the surge of ICE in those states. DHS claims the surge is necessary because of laws on the books there limiting local law enforcement’s cooperation with immigration authorities.
Trump threatened to institute the Insurrection Act in a Jan. 15 Truth Social post.
The Insurrection Act has not been used since the 1992 Los Angeles riots following the acquittal of four city police officers on assault charges in the brutal beating of black motorist Rodney King.
The president has attempted other legal means to deploy the National Guard to various states, such as Illinois, but has dropped those efforts following legal setbacks.
The National Guard remains deployed in Washington, DC, but the federal government has more power over the nation’s capital than other cities.
