President Donald Trump on Thursday warned he might use the Insurrection Act, a nearly 220-year-old law, to send the military into Minnesota, after days of large, angry protests in Minneapolis over federal immigration enforcement.
CNN reports that tensions erupted after a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer fatally shot Renee Nicole Good, a U.S. citizen, during an operation in north Minneapolis. The shooting has drawn intense clashes with federal agents.
Trump wrote on social media, via Reuters, that if Minnesota officials didn’t “stop the professional agitators and insurrectionists from attacking the Patriots of I.C.E.,” he would invoke the Insurrection Act.
For many residents, the protests aren’t just about one shooting: they’re about a pattern.
Minnesota has become a focal point for ICE’s aggressive enforcement operations, which include arrests, raids, and confrontations on city streets. Many protesters say the federal presence feels like an invasion. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey called the surge “an invasion” and said he had witnessed “conduct from ICE that is disgusting and intolerable.”
Mayor Frey also blasted the ICE surge and called for de-escalation, saying the city could not have “two governmental entities … literally fighting one another.”
Polls reveal that many Americans think the federal government is already too heavy-handed with ICE and that aggressive enforcement is making cities feel less safe.
Protesters have faced off with federal agents wearing camouflage and masks, sometimes responding with whistles, tambourines, and chants. Federal officers have made arrests and used crowd-control tactics that residents and local leaders have condemned.
Part of the issue is that that the Somali community has deep ties in Minneapolis, where Somali Americans make up a large and active civic presence. Many locals say they are fed up with what they see as federal overreach into their neighborhoods.
TIME TO UTILIZE THE ACT IN L.A.
♦️🇺🇸♦️DON’T YOU SAY♦️🇺🇸♦️
The Insurrection Act allows the
President to deploy military force
domestically when state authorities cannot enforce Federal Law.
Used historically such as the 1957
Little Rock desegregation crisis. pic.twitter.com/vdYEOzjNmF
— ♦️GAYE GALLOPS♦️ (@gaye_gallops) June 8, 2025
What the Insurrection Act Is — In Plain English
The Insurrection Act is a piece of law from 1807 that gives the U.S. president the power to deploy federal troops on American soil to suppress rebellion, insurrection, or obstruction of federal law.
Normally, soldiers and the military aren’t used for everyday law enforcement. The Posse Comitatus Act generally bans the Army and Air Force from domestic policing roles. The Insurrection Act is the exception. It’s one of the few legal tools the president can use to send troops into a state without that state’s request.
In simple terms: The Insurrection Act gives the legal green light for troops in the streets. The Act can be triggered when authorities claim civil disorder is overwhelming local control.
Presidents have invoked the law only a few times in U.S. history. One notable example was when it was used to enforce school desegregation in the 1950s, to suppress riots in the 1960s, and on rare occasions in between.
The Insurrection Act is a U.S. federal law, originally enacted in 1807 and codified in Title 10, Chapter 13 of the United States Code (sections 251–255), that empowers the President to deploy active-duty U.S. military forces or federalize state National Guard units domestically… https://t.co/PyixxjTqF2
— Michael Flynn Jr (@realmflynnJR) January 9, 2026
Why Is Trump Threatening to Use The Insurrection Act
Trump’s threat to use the Insurrection Act comes at a chaotic moment. Federal immigration agents have been deployed in Minneapolis in large numbers as protests, clashes, and arrests continue. Good’s death has sparked national outrage and on-the-street reactions.
The president’s suggestion of a military response marks one of the rare times in recent memory that the law has been floated in a domestic dispute involving civilian protests.
CNN notes that even past attempts by Trump to use federal forces without the Insurrection Act met legal and political pushback. And that’s part of why this idea is so significant — it’s drastic, and it’s rarely been used.
And as protests continue and politics unfold, the Insurrection Act could become less of a dusty historical footnote and more of a living flashpoint in American civic life.
