President Donald Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act on Thursday following rising tensions and protests in Minneapolis.
President Trump says he will consider the Insurrection Act if unrest escalates
President Donald Trump told reporters he would invoke the Insurrection Act “if necessary.”
President Donald Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act on social media on Thursday, January 15, amid heightened tensions following the second shooting by federal officers in Minneapolis in two weeks. This gives the country the authority to deploy U.S. troops in the country.
“I will enact the Insurrection Act if it will stop the corrupt politicians in Minnesota from attacking the patriots in ICE who don’t abide by the law and are just trying to do their job,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social Thursday morning.
The threat came after a night of clashes between demonstrators and federal agents in Minneapolis, which escalated after federal agents shot and killed a Venezuelan man who fled a traffic stop. Wednesday’s shooting occurred just one week after an immigration officer shot and killed Renee Nicole Good, 37, a mother of three.
Good’s shooting sparked demonstrations across the United States against the Trump administration and federal immigration enforcement.
What is the Insurrection Act?
The Insurrection Act is a law enacted in 1807 that gives the president the power to send the U.S. military to quell civil wars and other situations.
“The Insurrection Act authorizes the president to deploy the military in the United States and use it against American citizens, making it one of the executive branch’s most powerful emergency powers,” according to a 2022 report from the Brennan Center for Justice.
This is one of the oldest emergency powers available to presidents, dating back to 1792, according to the center. This is a constitutional power of Congress that “provides for the raising of the militia to enforce the laws of the Union, suppress insurrection, and repel invasion,” and is a major exception to the Posse Politcocrete Act, which generally prohibits federal troops from participating in civilian law enforcement activities, according to the center’s experts.
What is President Trump saying about invoking the Insurrection Act?
President Trump threatened to invoke the bill in a social media post Thursday, writing that the action “will immediately end the travesty that is unfolding in the once-great state of (Minnesota).”
This is not the first time President Trump has threatened to invoke this law. He made similar threats during protests over ICE actions in Los Angeles in June 2025, deploying the National Guard and saying in a memo that the protests obstructed federal law enforcement and that demonstrations were “a form of insurrection” against the U.S. government.
The action in June marked the first time in decades that a president had moved to deploy the military in such a way without the consent or explicit invitation of governors. A similar threat occurred in Chicago in October 2025, when President Trump was barred from sending the National Guard to the city following demonstrations against heavy-handed ICE enforcement. Invoking a 19th-century law could help President Trump avoid the legal challenges he faced when sending troops to American cities.
President Trump said in a recent post that invoking the Insurrection Act is an action “many presidents have done before.”
Has the Insurrection Act ever been used?
According to a report by the Brennan Center for Justice, the law has been invoked in response to 30 crises in 230 years, but it has not always resulted in the actual deployment of troops.
The Insurrection Act has been used by presidents to deploy troops within the United States in response to crises such as the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794 and the rise of the Ku Klux Klan shortly after the Civil War.
The law was last invoked in 1992 by President George H.W. Bush. Unlike today’s immigration raid protests, California’s governor at the time requested military assistance to quell riots in Los Angeles after four white Los Angeles police officers were acquitted of beating black motorist Rodney King. The Brennan Center said the riot had already been largely quelled by the state-run National Guard before federal troops arrived.
Christopher: Christopher Cann, Thano Nguyen, Jeanine Sancci, US TOD. Reuters
Kate Perez covers national trends and breaking news for USA TODAY. You can reach her at kperez@usatodayco.com or on Twitter @katecperez_.
