Trump threatens to invoke Insurrection Act over Minnesota protests

Trump threatens to invoke Insurrection Act over Minnesota protests Estelle.Bronkhorst Fri, 01/16/2026 - 05:58 WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump threatened to invoke an emergency law that allows domestic deployment of the military, as protests roiled Minnesota after two incidents of federal agents firing their weapons, injuring a man on Wednesday and killing a woman last week.Protesters denounced the violence of Trump s broad-reaching immigration raids in rallies in the frigid northern city, which is a Democratic stronghold.On his social media platform, Trump repeated his threat to invoke the Insurrection Act, a 19th-century law for quelling insurrection that has not been used in more than 30 years. 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, Trump posted on social media Thursday.Trump has reacted angrily to protests and court decisions blocking his drive to deploy the National Guard as he presses an anti-immigration agenda that has drawn accusations of authoritarian overreach and periodic mass rallies with the mantra No Kings. Democratic Minnesota Governor Tim Walz accused federal agents of waging a campaign of organised brutality against the people of Minnesota, in a video posted to X Wednesday night, noting a broad array of violent incidents, including breaking windows, dragging pregnant women down the street, and the January 7 killing of 37-year-old Renee Good. We must protest loudly, urgently, but also peacefully, Walz said, calling on Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to end this occupation, you ve done enough. Walz called on Minnesotans to record every interaction with ICE for future prosecution. When Noem addressed reporters outside the White House on Thursday, she declined to say if she thinks Trump should invoke the Insurrection Act, and didn t know if he would. It s his constitutional right, and it s up to him if he wants to utilise it to do it, Noem said. Residents of Minneapolis were on edge Thursday after an immigration agent shot and injured a man Wednesday evening, marking the second time in a week an ICE agent had opened fire on someone in Minneapolis.The Insurrection Act was last invoked in 1992 by President George H.W. Bush at the request of the Republican governor of California, who was facing unprecedented riots in Los Angeles following the acquittal of police officers who had beaten Rodney King, a Black motorist, the previous year.

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