Trump Threatens to Invoke the Insurrection Act to Deploy Troops to Minnesota. Here’s What That Means

President Donald Trump has threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act, which would allow him to deploy troops, in Minnesota amid escalating clashes between federal agents and members of the community.

“If the corrupt politicians of Minnesota don’t obey the law and stop the professional agitators and insurrectionists from attacking the patriots of ICE, who are only trying to do their job, I will institute the Insurrection Act,” Trump vowed in a Truth Social post on Thursday morning.

[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]

Trump argued that many Presidents have invoked the Act before him and said it would allow him to “quickly put an end to the travesty” that is taking place in the state.

The President’s threat landed hours after a judge decided not to issue a temporary restraining order after Minnesota and the Twin Cities filed a lawsuit against federal officials, citing excessive force being used by agents.

The situation in Minneapolis deteriorated once more on Wednesday night when an ICE agent shot a Venezuelan man in the leg during an attempted traffic stop. This came after an ICE agent fatally shot Renee Good last week in the same city.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said the Wednesday incident unravelled when an “officer was being ambushed and attacked” by two individuals intervening in the attempted arrest of the Venezuelan man. “The original subject got loose and began striking the officer with a shovel or broom stick… Fearing for his life and safety as he was being ambushed by three individuals, the officer fired a defensive shot to defend his life. The initial subject was hit in the leg,” the DHS stated.

What is the Insurrection Act?

The act gives the President authority “to suppress rebellion or domestic violence or to enforce the law in certain situations,” according to the Brennan Center for Justice. 

Instituting the act gives Congress the ability “to provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions.”

It is the legal exemption to The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, which “removed the military from regular civil law enforcement” after the use of the military in response to civil unrest was abused during the Civil War and subsequent Reconstruction era.

When Was the Insurrection Act Last Invoked and How Many U.S. Presidents Have Used It?

The Insurrection Act was most recently used by President George H.W. Bush in May 1992. He deployed the national guard to Los Angeles in response to riots prompted by the acquittal of white police officers who were charged with assaulting Rodney King, an unarmed Black man.

The act has been invoked in response to 30 crises since the Calling Forth Act of 1792, which paved the way for the Insurrection Act passed in 1807. In total, 17 of the country’s 45 President’s have officially invoked it.

President Abraham Lincoln notably invoked the Act in 1861, in response to the secession of seven southern states at the outbreak of what is now known as the Civil War.

President Ulysses S. Grant invoked the act a record six times, starting in 1871, in an effort to combat the destructive acts of the Ku Klux Klan during the Reconstruction era.