President Donald Trump mentioned the possibility of invoking the Insurrection Act in Minnesota due to ongoing riots related to an alleged self-defense shooting involving ICE in Minneapolis, which is being described as “an act of domestic terrorism.”
Riots flared Wednesday night in north Minneapolis after a federal officer was allegedly attacked while attempting to arrest a man from Venezuela. The ICE agent reportedly shot the man in the leg in self-defense.
In a post on Truth Social early Thursday, Trump wrote:
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz reportedly responded hours later with a public appeal for calm, saying, “I am making a direct appeal to the president: Let’s turn the temperature down. Stop this campaign of retribution. This is not who we are.”
The latest shooting occurred on January 14 in the Hawthorne neighborhood of Minneapolis. DHS officials said ICE agents were attempting to arrest an illegal alien from Venezuela. Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension officials said the agency has launched an independent investigation into the shooting, per FOX 9 KMSP.
If Trump were to institute the Insurrection Act, it would allow him to deploy active-duty military forces domestically, temporarily bypassing restrictions in the Posse Comitatus Act that generally bar federal troops from performing civilian law enforcement duties.
The law, first enacted in 1792, has amended several times since.
Scholars from The Center for Immigration Studies have argued in favor of robust executive authority on immigration enforcement and said the Insurrection Act is a lawful and historically grounded tool that gives presidents wide discretion to use the military to enforce federal law.
In a January 2025 analysis, CIS analysts said the act “empowers President Trump to deploy the military to aid deportation efforts”. They maintained that the statute places few limits on presidential judgment when federal law cannot be enforced through ordinary means.
Some left-leaning civil liberties advocates sharply disagree.
Attorneys for the Brennan Center for Justice have warned in an article that the Insurrection Act is “dangerously overbroad and ripe for abuse,” noting that while it allows the deployment of the domestic military, it is not a “blank check.” The group has emphasized that the law’s vague language gives presidents significant discretion and could be misused in situations that do not rise to the level of insurrection or total breakdown of civilian authority.
Under the statute, presidents can deploy troops at a governor’s request or, in some circumstances, without state consent if they determine federal law cannot be enforced through normal judicial processes. The Brennan Center has also noted that no president has invoked the act without a state request since 1965.
As of Thursday morning, White House officials had announced no formal steps to invoke the law, and state officials said they were awaiting further clarification on federal actions while the BCA investigation continues.
