The president is considering using federal law to send the military to Minneapolis, where protests continue after two shootings by federal agents in less than a week.
Published January 15, 2026
President Donald Trump has threatened to invoke a rarely used federal law to send troops to Minnesota, where protests are underway over two shootings in Minneapolis within a week related to his immigration crackdown.
“If you want to stop Minnesota’s corrupt politicians from not following the law and professional agitators and insurrectionists from attacking patriots in ICE who are just trying to do their job, I will enact the Insurrection Act, as so many presidents have done before, to quickly end this travesty in our once great state,” President Trump wrote on social media Thursday, referring to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Agency.
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President Trump posted the comments a day after federal agents shot and killed a Venezuelan man in Minneapolis. Federal officials said the Trump administration was grappling with a Venezuelan national who was in the U.S. illegally when two people attacked him with a shovel and a broomstick.
deadly gunfire
The incident further escalated tensions a week after ICE agents shot and killed 37-year-old American citizen Renee Good in her car in Minneapolis. The mother of three’s murder and the Trump administration’s labeling of her as a “domestic terrorist” sparked global outrage and protests across the United States.
Smoke filled a Minneapolis street near the site of the latest shooting Wednesday night as federal agents wearing gas masks and helmets fired tear gas into a small crowd and protesters threw rocks and set off fireworks.
The U.S. president has repeatedly threatened to use the Insurrection Act to send in the U.S. military over the objections of state governors and to federalize the National Guard to enforce domestic laws.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said the situation was “unsustainable.”
“This is an impossible situation that our city is in right now, and at the same time we are trying to find a way forward to keep people safe, protect our neighbors and maintain order,” he said.
Frey said federal troops five times the size of the city’s 600 police officers have “infiltrated” the city, scaring and angering residents, some of whom want local police officers to “fight ICE agents.”
At the same time, police remain responsible for their day-to-day operations to protect public safety.
thousands arrested
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said it has arrested more than 2,000 people in Minnesota since early December and is committed to not backing down.
DHS accused Frey and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, both Democrats, of encouraging resistance to ICE with “hateful rhetoric,” an allegation Frey rejected.
Disputing the accusations of wrongdoing, DHS said its officers are increasingly being assaulted while trying to find and detain immigration violators.
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara, along with Frey, called on the crowd to disperse, saying they were “performing illegal activities” near the scene of the shooting.
“There is no need for it to escalate any further,” O’Hara said.
