President Trump has threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act amid escalating protests in Minnesota, a move that would allow him to deploy active-duty troops domestically to suppress unrest and enforce federal law, bypassing normal limits on military involvement in civilian policing. “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 said on Truth Social, arguing the law would allow him to “quickly put an end to the travesty” in the state.
According to the Brennan Center for Justice, the Act gives the president authority “to suppress rebellion or domestic violence or to enforce the law in certain situations,” and serves as a legal exception to the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, which generally bars the military from routine law enforcement.
The threat follows renewed clashes in Minneapolis, including the shooting of a Venezuelan man by an ICE agent during an attempted arrest, an incident the Department of Homeland Security said occurred after an officer was “being ambushed and attacked,” raising concerns that invoking the Act could significantly escalate the federal response to protests and deepen tensions between local authorities and Washington.