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Trump threatens to invoke insurrection act as protests continue in Minneapolis
Donald Trump has threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act as protests against federal immigration agents continue in Minneapolis.
In a post on Truth Social today, Trump said he would institute the centuries-old, seldom used law – that allows the president to use the military domestically to suppress an invasion or rebellion – 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”.
On Wednesday, a federal officer shot a man in the leg during an enforcement operation in north Minneapolis, sparking further protests in the city, just a week after the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good.
Trump said that by implementing the act he would “quickly put an end to the travesty that is taking place in that once great State”.
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Kristi Noem also defended the use of federal immigration officers demanding Americans “on the street” to provide proof of citizenship.
“If we are on a target doing an operation, there may be individuals surrounding that criminal that we may be asking who they are and why they’re there, and having them validate their identity,” the homeland security secretary told reporters outside the White House today. “That’s what we’ve always done in asking people who they are, so that we know who’s in those surroundings, and if they are breaking our federal laws.”
When asked by reporters about the use of force by federal immigration agents, Noem remained resolute that they were abiding by the law.
“Every single action that our ICE officers take is according to the law and following protocols that we have used for years, that this administration has used, that the previous administration used,” she said. “They are doing everything correctly, and over and over again in litigation, in the courts, we’ve proven that they’ve done the right thing.”
Speaking to reporters outside the White House today, homeland security secretary Kristi Noem declined to comment on how many the oil-carrying ships the administration is tracking, and their routes.
This comes after the US seized a sixth tanker amid the crackdown on Venezuelan oil following the capture of Nicolás Maduro earlier this month.
“I can’t speak to the specifics of the operation, although we are watching the entire shadow fleet,” she said today. “I’m very proud of our Coast Guard and how they partnered with the Department of War to do unprecedented actions in bringing these flags under jurisdiction.”
Appeals court dismisses Mahmoud Khalil's challenge to immigration detentions, opens path to re-arrest
An appeals court on Thursday dismissed Mahmoud Khalil’s lawsuit challenging his initial detention, and opened up the path for his re-arrest.
Last year, Khalil – a green card holder and Columbia graduate – was released from an immigration detention facility, after he was initially arrested for his role in pro-Palestinian protests against Israel’s war in Gaza.
However, a 2-1 decision by a panel of the third US circuit court of appeals today ruled that a lower court judge did not have the authority to grant Khalil’s release. His lawyers are set to appeal the ruling, meaning any re-arrest would not happen immediately.
A reminder that Khalil became an early symbol for the Trump administration’s crackdown on free speech on university campuses – an effort that targeted immigrant students and those studying on visas.
Noem says that that Minneapolis mayor needs to work with federal law enforcement
The homeland security secretary added that Minneapolis mayor, Jacob Frey, “needs to start working with our law enforcement officers”, as tensions in the city rise, following the shooting of an immigrant during an enforcement operation on Wednesday. The city remains on edge after the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good last week.
“We could go get these criminals off the streets with their partnership, and do it in a safe manner with less agents, if he [Frey] told everybody to go home and said it was no longer acceptable,” Noem said in an interview with Fox News today. “The violent rioters that we’re seeing on the streets today are there because of the mayor and how he’s spoken. He needs to make sure that he’s working with us, with his law enforcement officers, to make sure we’re arresting the dangerous ones and sending the rest of them home.”
Noem says she spoke with Trump about possible invocation of Insurrection Act
Homeland security secretary Kristi Noem said that she spoke to Donald Trump this morning about his threats to invoke the Insurrection Act as protests continued in Minneapolis against federal immigration agents.
“That certainly is within the president’s constitutional authority to use that if he thinks he needs to keep people safe,” she said. “What I love about this president is the very first question that he asks me is ‘how are you doing, and how are our people doing in this country? How are the people doing and our law enforcement officers?’”
Richard Luscombe
The US military has seized another oil tanker at sea in support of Donald Trump’s sanctions against Venezuela, military officials announced Thursday.
Veronica, a crude oil tanker that marine records suggest is sailing under a Guyanese flag, was boarded in a pre-dawn action by US marines and sailors, the US Southern Command said in a post on social media.
The operation was conducted in cooperation with the Coast Guard, homeland security department and justice department, the post said. It included blurry, black-and-white aerial footage appearing to show service members descending on to the tanker’s deck from a helicopter.
It is the sixth known boarding and seizure by the US military of a foreign-flagged oil tanker in support of Trump’s clamping down on the Venezuelan oil industry since the capture of the country’s president, Nicolás Maduro, in Caracas and subsequent removal to the US earlier this month.
As tensions rise in Minneapolis and protests over the use of force by federal immigration agents continue, my colleague, Maanvi Singh, is on the ground.
She reports that at a news conference at Minneapolis City Hall on Wednesday night, police chief Brian O’Hara said protesters were “engaging in unlawful behavior” and urged everyone who had gathered at the shooting scene in north Minneapolis to leave.
The Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey, said: “I’ve seen conduct from ICE that is disgusting and intolerable.” But he urged protesters out Wednesday night to go home. “We cannot counter Donald Trump’s chaos with our own brand of chaos … Anyone who is taking the bait tonight, stop,” he said. “You are not helping the undocumented immigrants in our city.”
Trump has routinely threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act, most recently in Portland, Oregon last October.
The president also threatened to invoke the act in June when California governor Gavin Newsom sued Trump to block the use of military forces to accompany federal immigration enforcement in Los Angeles, calling it an “illegal deployment”.
In 2020, Trump asked governors of several states to deploy their national guard troops to Washington DC to quell protests that arose after George Floyd was killed by a Minneapolis police officer. Many of the governors agreed, sending troops to the federal district.
At the time, Trump also threatened to invoke the act for protests following Floyd’s death but never actually did so.
While campaigning in 2024, the president also promised to deploy the national guard to help carry out his immigration enforcement goals.
A reminder that the most recent use of the Insurrection Act was in 1992, when George HW Bush used the law to respond to the deadly riots in Los Angeles, after the four white police officers filmed beating the Black motorist Rodney King were acquitted.
Trump threatens to invoke insurrection act as protests continue in Minneapolis
Donald Trump has threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act as protests against federal immigration agents continue in Minneapolis.
In a post on Truth Social today, Trump said he would institute the centuries-old, seldom used law – that allows the president to use the military domestically to suppress an invasion or rebellion – 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”.
On Wednesday, a federal officer shot a man in the leg during an enforcement operation in north Minneapolis, sparking further protests in the city, just a week after the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good.
Trump said that by implementing the act he would “quickly put an end to the travesty that is taking place in that once great State”.
Also today, we’ll hear from press secretary Karoline Leavitt when she holds a White House briefing at 1pm ET.
