President Donald Trump on Thursday threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act to quell efforts to disrupt his immigration crackdown in Minneapolis. Tensions have risen in the city since a federal agent killed a woman there last week, with the administration doubling down on aggressive tactics that local officials say are meant to spread fear and provoke backlash.
Another shooting involving a federal agent on Wednesday evening touched off hours of clashes between protesters and law enforcement officers. A man from Venezuela who was in the country illegally was shot in the leg while resisting arrest, a federal spokesperson said.
The President, who has previously threatened to invoke the 1807 act — which allows the use of the military on US soil to quell an insurrection or invasion — said he would do so “if the corrupt politicians of Minnesota don’t obey the law and stop the professional agitators and insurrections from attacking the Patriots of ICE”.
The administration has labelled Renee Good, 37, a mother and poet who was shot in her car last week by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, as a domestic terrorist. Local officials have rejected the federal
interpretation of events, with demonstrators calling for the arrest and prosecution of the agent, Jonathan Ross — an unlikely outcome under federal law.
Minneapolis residents have protested repeatedly in the week since Good was fatally shot on the south side of Minneapolis.
As word of the latest shooting spread, at least 200 protesters gathered near the apparent scene on Wednesday night. A group of them yelled at Minneapolis police officers who had blocked the street to traffic, telling the local officers that the federal agents should be arrested.
New York Times News Service