Donald Trump has threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act in Minnesota amid protests in Minneapolis against federal immigration enforcement operations.
In a post on Truth Social, the president said he would use the law to “quickly put an end to the travesty” if what he called the “corrupt politicians of Minnesota” failed to stop protesters he described as “professional agitators and insurrectionists”.
The warning came as Minnesota’s governor, Tim Walz, urged demonstrators to remain peaceful following a night of unrest in Minneapolis.
“I am making a direct appeal to the president: let’s turn the temperature down,” Walz said in a statement on Thursday morning. “Stop this campaign of retribution. This is not who we are.”
He also appealed directly to residents of Minnesota. “We can, we must, speak out loudly, urgently but also peacefully. We cannot fan the flames of chaos,” he said.
Tensions escalated after reports on Wednesday evening that a federal officer shot a man in the leg during an immigration enforcement operation in north Minneapolis.
The incident prompted protests in the area, with the city already on edge after a federal immigration officer shot and killed Renee Nicole Good there a week earlier.
“State investigators have been on the scene in North Minneapolis,” Walz wrote overnight on X. “I know you’re angry. I’m angry. What Donald Trump wants is violence in the streets.”
He added that Minnesota would “remain an island of decency, of justice, of community, and of peace”.
According to the Guardian, several hundred protesters gathered near the site of the shooting. At a later news conference, Minneapolis police chief Brian O’Hara said some protesters had engaged in unlawful behaviour and urged people to leave the area.
The Department of Homeland Security said the shooting occurred during a targeted traffic stop involving a Venezuelan national without legal status. The department claimed the man resisted arrest and attacked an officer, while two other individuals also intervened.
DHS said the officer fired a “defensive shot” to protect his life. That account could not immediately be independently verified.
Minneapolis city officials said the man who was shot was taken to hospital with injuries that were not believed to be life-threatening.
On Wednesday evening, Walz criticised the scale of the federal presence in the state, saying it was causing fear and disruption in local communities.
He said between 2,000 and 3,000 armed federal agents had been deployed across Minnesota and accused immigration officers of aggressive and indiscriminate tactics.
“They’re pulling over people indiscriminately, including US citizens, and demanding to see their papers,” Walz said.
He also alleged that people were being detained without warning or due process, calling the operations “a campaign of organised brutality”.
“This long ago stopped being a matter of immigration enforcement,” he said. “It is an occupation.”
Walz called on Trump and the homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, to end federal operations in the state.
“You’ve done enough,” he said.
On Thursday, Noem said there were no plans to withdraw federal agents from Minnesota. She described conditions in the state as violent and unlawful in many areas.
She confirmed she had discussed the Insurrection Act with Trump and said he had the constitutional authority to invoke it.
“If nothing changes with Governor Walz, I don’t anticipate the streets getting any safer,” she said.
At a White House briefing, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said only Trump could decide whether to invoke the act. She accused Democratic officials of encouraging violence against federal officers.
Earlier this week, several federal prosecutors resigned in Minnesota and Washington DC over the administration’s handling of the investigation into the killing of Good.
Six attorneys from the US attorney’s office in Minnesota stepped down, reportedly over concerns about the justice department’s reluctance to investigate the shooting. The department confirmed the resignations but denied they were linked to the case.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota has filed a class-action lawsuit against the Trump administration on behalf of three residents, alleging that immigration agents violated their constitutional rights.
