Trump warns of invoking Insurrection Act

TOI correspondent from Washington: US President Donald Trump on Thursday threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act to deploy military forces in Minneapolis, escalating a volatile standoff between federal authorities, local officials and protesters amid intensifying unrest tied to immigration enforcement.

The warning, delivered in a post on Truth Social, has sharpened national anxieties about the use of troops on American streets and the expanding role of the military in a country long seen as a model of civic engagement. “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,” Trump warned, referring to the 1807 law that allows presidents to deploy troops domestically to suppress unrest.

The threat follows days of protests in Minneapolis linked to “Operation Midway Blitz,” the administration’s aggressive immigration crackdown that has sent thousands of heavily armed, masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents into the city. Demonstrations began last week after an ICE officer fatally shot 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good as tried to pull away her car during an attempted arrest. Tensions flared again on Wednesday when federal agents shot a Venezuelan man in the leg during a traffic stop, saying he resisted arrest and assaulted an officer with a shovel and a broom.

Following that incident, crowds gathered near the scene, and clashes erupted as federal agents used tear gas, pepper balls and flash-bang grenades to disperse demonstrators. Smoke drifted through downtown streets while helicopters hovered overhead. Trump’s renewed invocation of the Insurrection Act — a step he repeatedly floated during his first term and has again raised during his mass deportation push — has intensified a broader national debate over the militarization of domestic law enforcement.

Critics argue that the presence of heavily armed federal agents, often in tactical gear, blurs the line between civilian policing and military operations.That unease has reached some of Trump’s own supporters. Joe Rogan, the country’s # 1 podcaster, who endorsed Trump in the 2024 election, questioned ICE tactics on his show, comparing them to “the Gestapo” and asking, “Are we really going to be the Gestapo? ‘Where’s your papers?’ Is that what we’ve come to?” Rogan said he was disturbed by reports of “militarized people in the streets just roaming around snatching people up,” including US.

citizens without identification.Indeed, reports and videos of ICE’s incendiary methods are surfacing across the country. In Los Angeles, civil rights groups allege ICE agents smashed car windows and detained people based on perceived race or ethnicity. In Chicago, agents deployed tear gas near schools and hospitals and briefly handcuffed a local alderwoman who challenged their actions. Even US citizens are being rounded up, including an incident where three members of the Oglala Sioux tribe, the original inhabitants of the country, were detained in Minneapolis, the city itself deriving its name from the Dakota tribe’s word for water.

The American Civil Liberties Union and other watchdogs have also documented claims of racial profiling, unlawful detentions of citizens, and the use of solitary confinement in ICE facilities.The administration and its allies reject accusations of systemic abuse. The Department of Homeland Security described the Minneapolis shooting as an act of self-defense during an “ambush,” while Trump supporters argue that protests have impeded lawful enforcement and that ICE agents are operating within their legal authority to detain individuals with criminal records or outstanding immigration violations.As Democratic-led states including Minnesota and Illinois pursue lawsuits accusing the administration of fostering fear and violating constitutional rights, the confrontation shows little sign of easing. Minnesota officials continue to call for restraint, but Trump’s threat to deploy troops has raised the stakes, underscoring deep divisions over immigration policy, federal power and civil liberties — and fueling growing disquiet across the country about how far the government is willing to go to enforce the law, amid fears Trump is preparing grounds for imposition of Martial Law.