President Donald Trump's threat to invoke the Insurrection Act to quell protests in Minnesota have sparked warnings from Trump critics.
Trump has several times threatened to invoke the 1807 act, a federal law that allows the president to deploy the military and National Guard to quell unrest, such as an insurrection or rebellion, or to enforce the law in certain situations. Critics have long worried that invoking the act would consolidate federal power and give Trump more leeway to use the military for domestic law enforcement or immigration enforcement.
The president's threat comes after a second person was shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent in Minneapolis on Wednesday. Protests broke out again, extending the unrest in the city which erupted more than a week ago following the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Renee Good by ICE Agent Jonathan Ross. Trump administration officials have claimed that the ICE agent involved acted in self-defense, while local officials maintain Good posed no threat and have repeatedly called for ICE to leave the city.
In a Thursday morning Truth Social post, 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."
Several prominent figures have called out the president's warning, noting that the law has only been used in extreme circumstances and a few times in the past century, most recently by President George H.W. Bush, to quell the Los Angeles riots in 1992 after the police beating of Rodney King.
That was followed by mass unrest by tens of thousands of people that left 63 dead, around 2,300 injured and more than 12,000 arrested.
Other times the Act was invoked include when President Dwight D. Eisenhower ordered federal troops to escort Black students into Little Rock Central High School after Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus refused to comply with a federal desegregation order and during the 1967 Detroit Riot, which left 43 dead.
The Lincoln Project, a group founded by anti-Trump Republicans, said in an X post in response to Trump's announcement, "This has been the plan all along. Foment violence and chaos in the streets of MN. Implement the Insurrection Act. Declare Martial Law. Suspend elections."
Governor JB Pritzker, an Illinois Democrat, called out the president, writing, "Donald Trump and Kristi Noem are using armed, militarized agents to provoke Minnesotans. The Insurrection Act should not be used as an excuse to send armed troops into our streets."
Trump has also had some pushback from members of his own party, with Representative Andrew Garbarino, a New York Republican, told Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo that "Maybe the only thing they can do is the Insurrection Act, but hopefully that's not the case. Having troops on the ground is not the best thing to do. It might be the last thing to do."
However, others like Representative Jim Jordan, an Ohio Republican, told Fox Business, "Again this is the president making sure that people are safe, that communities are safe, that law enforcement can do their job."
Following Good's killing, the administration sent more federal agents to the city. Minneapolis officials are calling for calm after a federal immigration officer shot a Venezuelan man, identified as Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, in the leg during an attempted traffic stop on Wednesday night. The shooting, which occurred just 12 miles from where an ICE officer fatally shot Good last week.
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said in a Fox News interview on Thursday: "I spoke to the president this morning about several different things, but we did discuss that. That certainly is within the President's constitutional authority to use that if he thinks he needs to to keep people safe."
Seth Abramson, an author who has written on Trump, said in an X post: "Trump has a ten-month plan to ensure further elections are impossible. It's not even halfway through January and his paramilitary is occupying a city and killing protesters as he prepares to invoke the Insurrection Act and floats canceling elections. Wake up: fascism is here."
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said in an X post on Thursday: "Minnesota needs ICE to leave, not an escalation that brings additional federal troops beyond the 3,000 already here. My priority is keeping local law enforcement focused on public safety not diverted by federal overreach."
Melanie D'Arrigo, a frequent political commentator on X and executive director of the Campaign for New York Health, posted on social media Thursday: "The Insurrection Act was always the plan, and Minneapolis is the test case. They sent ICE in to terrorize and attack Black and brown communities to provoke a response that would justify deploying the military domestically in Blue cities. This has never been about immigration."
It remains unclear if the president will invoke the act in Minneapolis.