MINNEAPOLIS (TNND) — President Donald Trump threatened to use the Insurrection Act on Thursday to send more troops into Minneapolis as protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents continue to grow.
The president’s threat comes after a federal agent shot an illegal immigrant in the leg in Minneapolis on Wednesday night when he was attacked with a shovel and broom handle. Tensions across the country have heightened after an immigration agent fatally shot Renee Nicole Good in the head during an ICE operation.
“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,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey described the situation in the city as not “sustainable” in a post on X Wednesday night.
“Tonight a man was shot in the leg by an ICE agent on the Northside,” he said. “No matter what led up to this incident, the situation we are seeing in our city is not sustainable.”
Earlier Wednesday, a judge gave the Trump administration time to respond to a request to suspend its immigration crackdown in Minnesota.
“What we need most of all right now is a pause. The temperature needs to be lowered,” state Assistant Attorney General Brian Carter said during the first hearing in a lawsuit filed by Minnesota and the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul.
In court filings, Minnesota officials argue the crackdown violates federal law because it unfairly singles out the state, noting that similar enforcement levels have not been imposed elsewhere in the country. The complaint further claims the surge is retaliation against Minnesota for its political positions, an action the state says infringes on First Amendment protections.
U.S. District Judge Katherine Menendez gave the U.S. Justice Department until Monday to file a response to a request for a restraining order.
According to the Department of Homeland Security, more than 2,000 federal immigration officers have been deployed to the state, and officials say more than 2,000 arrests have been made since the operation began in December. ICE has labeled the effort “Operation Metro Surge.”
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Editor’s note: The Associated Press contributed to this article.
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