President Donald J. Trump has threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act to deploy U.S. military forces to Minnesota as violent protests against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations intensify in Minneapolis.
In a post on Truth Social published January 15, 2026, Trump warned that he would take federal action unless state and local officials cease the demonstrations. The threat came amid escalating tensions following recent incidents involving anti-ICE activists.
Trump stated: “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.”
The Insurrection Act, a rarely used federal law allowing presidential deployment of troops to quell unrest, was first employed by President Thomas Jefferson in 1807. The last U.S. president to invoke it was George H.W. Bush in 1992 during the Los Angeles riots following the Rodney King verdict.
Civil unrest in Minneapolis has surged recently after an anti-ICE activist was fatally shot while attempting to run over a federal immigration officer. According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), two individuals attacked an ICE agent with a broomstick and snow shovel during an attempted detention of a Venezuelan man, who suffered a leg injury in the incident.
