HUNT VALLEY, Md. (TNND) — Senator Tina Smith, a Minnesota Democrat, has denounced President Donald Trump’s threat to deploy the military to the state.
She told reporters that Trump’s warnings of invoking the Insurrection Act, an 1807 law authorizing military use in states, “essentially amount to threats of declaring war on Minnesota.”
Trump said on Thursday that he will use the law if Minnesota interferes with I.C.E., which has encountered protesters enflamed by the agency’s killing of Minneapolis resident Renee Good.
“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, which many Presidents have done before me, and quickly put an end to the travesty that is taking place in that once great State,” the president wrote in a social media post.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has urged protesters to demonstrate peacefully, asserting in a video address that Trump wants chaos, violence and confusion in the state.
“We cannot give him what he wants. We can – we must protest loudly, urgently, but also peacefully,” Walz said.
“Indeed, as hard as we will fight in the courts and at the ballot box, we cannot and will not let violence prevail.”
The Trump administration has said its deployment of I.C.E. to Minnesota is to improve public safety. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who oversees I.C.E., claimed in a Fox News interview on Sunday that state officials have allowed people who are in the country illegally to commit crimes.
“President Trump promised the American people that he would make America safe again, that we would be out there enforcing the laws and that we would apply them equally, that nobody was above the law and that we were going to start putting American citizens first,” Noem said. “So, criminal, illegal aliens in this country are going to be brought to justice under his administration, and that’s exactly why we surged resources to Minnesota.”
Amy Klobuchar, Minnesota’s senior Democratic senator, has argued that ICE is endangering the public. She said in a CNN interview on Monday that many agents are untrained and are risking residents’ safety.
“This is just not how we should be doing law enforcement. You know, if – the focus should be on violent offenders, the focus should be on not terrorizing an entire community, which is going on right now,” Klobuchar said.
Have questions, concerns or tips? Send them to Ray at rjlewis@sbgtv.com.
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