Trump threatens to invoke Insurrection Act for crackdown on anti-ICE protests

US President Donald Trump has threatened to invoke the rarely used Insurrection Act to crackdown on protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) violence in Minneapolis.

Trump also threatened to deploy troops following a night of unrest in the Minnesota city after an agent shot a man in the leg, calling the protesters "professional agitators and insurrectionists".

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) claimed that the officer opened fire after he was attacked by three Venezuelan citizens with a shovel and broom handle.

The protests erupted following the fatal shooting of the 37-year-old Minneapolis resident, Renee Good, by an ICE officer last week, an incident that has become a flashpoint for outrage over what critics describe as militarized immigration enforcement.

The shooting occurred during the second day of what the Department of Homeland Security has called the largest immigration operation in US history, centered on the Twin Cities.

The 1807 Insurrection Act allows active-duty military personnel to be deployed for law enforcement duties inside the US.

Federal immigration agents deployed to Minneapolis have used aggressive crowd-control tactics, sparking concerns.

They have used rifles and chemical irritants against the demonstrators, and have broken vehicle windows and pulled occupants from cars.

They have also clashed with protesters and shoved them to the ground.

Experts warn that relying on immigration agents and investigators to perform crowd-management roles traditionally handled by local police runs counter to de-escalation standards and risks turning volatile demonstrations into deadly encounters.

On Monday, the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota asked a federal judge to intervene. It filed a lawsuit on behalf of six residents seeking an emergency injunction to limit how federal agents operate during protests, including restrictions on the use of chemical agents, the pointing of firearms at non-threatening individuals and interference with lawful video recording.

DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin claimed in a written statement that all ICE officer candidates receive “months of rigorous training and selection at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, where they are trained in everything from de-escalation tactics to firearms to driving training”.

Aliya Rahman, a US citizen who was arrested while she was on her way to a medical appointment, was one of many cases that have garnered millions of views in recent days.

“I thought I was going to die,” Rahman said in her Thursday statement, adding that after her detainment, she felt lucky to be alive.

“Masked agents dragged me from my car and bound me like an animal, even after I told them that I was disabled,” Rahman said, noting that she was denied medical treatment.

“It was not until I lost consciousness in my cell that I was finally taken to a hospital,” Rahman said.

Rahman was caught in a “terrible and confusing position” and had “no where to go,” said Alexa Van Brunt, Rahman’s attorney and director of the MacArthur Justice Center.

“Her only options were to move her car forward in the direction of ICE officers and risk being accused of trying to harm them—which led to Renee Good’s death—or stay stationary, which in the end led to physical violence and abuse,” Van Brunt wrote in a statement.

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