Insurrection Act: Why is Trump threatening to use military in Minnesota?

Things are getting out of hand in Minnesota.

US President Donald Trump is now threatening to deploy the US military in Minnesota. The development comes as the state’s largest city, Minneapolis, witnessed protests over the presence of United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) personnel.

It also comes a week after an Ice agent shot a US woman dead in Minneapolis, the state’s largest city. The Trump administration has sent hundreds of federal agents to the city to continue the crackdown on immigrants.

But what happened? Why is Trump threatening to use the military in Minnesota? And what do we know about the Insurrection Act?

Face-off between protesters and police

Minneapolis has witnessed fresh clashes between protesters and police overnight.

As per CNN, the flashpoint occurred around 6:50 pm on Wednesday evening when a federal officer attempted to stop a Venezuelan national during a “targeted traffic stop”. Authorities have claimed that the Venezuelan national attempted to flee the scene after crashing his vehicle into a parked car. The officer gave chase and attempted to nab the suspect, who resisted arrest and began to violently assault the officer.

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At the same time, two people emerged from a nearby apartment and began to assault the officer with a snow shovel and a broom handle. Authorities said the officer fired a defensive shot, wounding the Venezuelan national in the leg.

The three men then sought refuge in an apartment. However, they were taken into custody. Both the officer and the Venezuelan were taken to hospital. Protesters then began gathering at the scene and faced off with law enforcement, who let off tear gas and flashbang grenades. US Customs and Border Protection Commander Gregory Bovin is on the ground in Minneapolis.

City leaders have called for the protesters to stay calm.

“For those who have peacefully protested, I applaud you. For those who are taking the bait, you are not helping, and you are not helping the undocumented immigrants of our city. You are not helping the people who call this place home,” Democratic Mayor Jacob Frey said.

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“We have two governmental entities that are literally fighting one another,” Frey added. It is “not sustainable”.

Why Trump is threatening to deploy military

Trump has now threatened to use the Insurrection Act in Minnesota if protesters do not back down.

“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 wrote in a Truth Social post.

The Insurrection Act is a law authorising the president to deploy military forces on US soil. Trump previously threatened to use the Act to send US troops to Portland last year when the city witnessed massive anti-Ice protests. The law was last used by a sitting president over three decades ago. In 1992, the then California Governor asked President George HW Bush to help handle the Los Angeles riots.

What is the Insurrection Act?

Under the US Constitution, federal troops are not allowed to be deployed on US soil.

The 1878 Posse Comitatus Act says the military cannot get involved in civilian law enforcement unless explicitly approved by Congress or in situations “expressly authorised by the Constitution”.

However, the Insurrection Act allows the president to do so in the case of an emergency.

It states: “Whenever there is an insurrection in any state against its government, the president may, upon the request of its legislature or of its governor if the legislature cannot be convened, call into federal service such of the militia of the other states, in the number requested by that state, and use such of the armed forces as he considers necessary to suppress the insurrection.”

The law says it can be used “whenever the president considers that unlawful obstructions, combinations, or assemblages, or rebellion against the authority of the United States make it impracticable to enforce the laws of the United States in any state by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings.”

The Act is usually invoked by the US president after a request from the state governor or the legislature. However, the President of the United States can do so on his own authority.

This can be done under Section 252 to “enforce the laws” of the United States, or “suppress rebellion” whenever “unlawful obstructions, combinations, or assemblages, or rebellion” make it “impracticable” to enforce federal law in that state by the “ordinary course of judicial proceedings.”

Section 253 of the Act lets the president do so to quash “any insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination, or conspiracy” that “so hinders the execution of the laws” that any portion of the state’s inhabitants are deprived of a constitutional right and state authorities are unable or unwilling to protect that right.

Section 253 also lets the president act against “any insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination, or conspiracy” in a state that “opposes or obstructs the execution of the laws of the United States or impedes the course of justice under those laws.”

Some critics have contended that the administration has been sending thousands of federal agents to Minneapolis in the hope of escalating tensions with anti-Ice protesters. They accuse the Trump administration of trying to manufacture a reason for deploying the military on US soil and call the US president a “dictator-in-waiting”.

Some in the first Trump administration had also urged the then president to try to invoke the Insurrection Act as a way to stay in power after his loss to Joe Biden in 2020.

With inputs from agencies