Trump threatens Insurrection Act after Minneapolis protests over ICE shooting escalate

United States (U.S.) President Donald Trump has threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act following deadly clashes between law enforcement and protestors.

Protests started after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent fatally shot a woman identified as Renee Good in her car in Minneapolis. Another shooting incident happened on Thursday, January 14, 2025, when a Venezuelan immigrant was shot in the leg.

The unrest has deepened with protests getting bigger and protestors clashing with law enforcement.

Taking to his own platform Truth Social, President Trump wrote: “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.”

What is Insurrection Act?

For context, Insurrection Act of 1807 is the U.S. federal law that empowers the president of the United States to nationally deploy the U.S. military and to federalize the National Guard units of the individual states in specific circumstances, such as the suppression of civil disorder, of insurrection, and of armed rebellion against the federal government of the U.S.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Mayor Jacob Frey has yet to react to Trump’s statement.