Karoline Leavitt blames 'deranged' Democrat officials for inflaming violence against ICE

By Jon Brown, Christian Post Reporter Thursday, January 15, 2026

WASHINGTON — White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt accused Democratic elected officials during a Thursday briefing of inflaming violence against federal law enforcement, but stopped short of revealing how much more President Donald Trump might tolerate before invoking the threatened Insurrection Act of 1807.

"That's only a question, frankly, the president can answer," Leavitt said in response to a question about what Trump's "tipping point" is on using the 19th-century law, which she noted remains "a tool at the president's disposal."

In a Truth Social post on Thursday morning, Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807 to restore order amid ongoing riots against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials in Minneapolis following a second ICE-involved shooting Wednesday night. The shooting took place when an ICE officer shot Julio Cesar Sosa Celis, an illegal Venezuelan immigrant, in the leg after Celis allegedly fled a traffic stop and later joined two other suspects in ambushing him with a shovel and broom handle.

The Insurrection Act, which allows the president to federalize the National Guard and deploy the military domestically to quell insurrection or domestic unrest, has been invoked by several presidents in U.S. history to assert federal authority, including Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy. It was last invoked by former President George H.W. Bush in 1992 at the request of California's Republican governor to quell riots in Los Angeles following the Rodney King trial.

"As you know, it has been used sparingly, but it has been used by previous presidents in American history," Leavitt said of the Insurrection Act. "I think the president's Truth Social post spoke very loud and clear to Democrats across this country — elected officials who are using their platforms to encourage violence against federal law enforcement officers, who are encouraging left-wing agitators to unlawfully obstruct legitimate law enforcement operations."

Leavitt accused some Democratic governors and mayors of hamstringing state and local police from cooperating with federal law enforcement to enforce immigration law.

"It's truly shameful that now, for more than a year, you've had elected Democrat governors and mayors who have basically held their state and local law enforcement hostage, and told them, 'You cannot cooperate with federal law enforcement.' Why? They cooperated under the Biden administration."

"It's because these Democrats are deranged in their hatred for President Trump, and they are holding their state local law enforcement hostage as a result," she added.

"You don't see these riots and this vandalism taking place in states like Florida. Why? Because you have a governor in that state who has empowered federal and local authorities to work together, and it's despicable what we're seeing from these Democrat politicians, especially in sanctuary states and cities across the country," Leavitt said.

Leavitt later displayed images taken Wednesday amid unrest in Minneapolis, showing vandalized law enforcement vehicles scrawled with profane graffiti cursing and threatening ICE agents. One image showed a woman in what appeared to be Islamic garb giving a middle finger to the camera beside a destroyed vehicle.

"They are simply trying to enforce the law," she said of ICE. "And the Democrat Party has demeaned these individuals. They even refer to them as Nazis and as the Gestapo, and that is absolutely leading to the violence we're seeing in the street."

"People don't do this without encouragement from people in power who make them feel like it's okay."

After the ICE-involved shooting Wednesday night, footage circulated on social media showing agents deploying tear gas amid enraged anti-ICE protesters, some of whom reportedly ripped a weapons locker out of a federal vehicle and stole a rifle and ammunition.

Leavitt also criticized how the legacy media has often framed ICE and its operations, and singled out The Hill's White House columnist Niall Stanage when he asserted that the ICE agent who fatally shot Renee Nicole Good last Wednesday "acted recklessly and killed her unjustifiably" after she drove her car into him.

Stanage's framing of the incident prompted Leavitt to respond by accusing him of being "a biased reporter with a left-wing opinion" and "a left-wing hack," which drew an audible gasp from someone in the briefing room.

.@PressSec absolutely nukes a Fake News loser:

"You're a left-wing hack. You're not a reporter. You're posing in this room as a journalist... You and the people in the media who have such biases but fake like you're a journalist — you shouldn't even be sitting in that seat." pic.twitter.com/ebZzHj7hPs

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) January 15, 2026

"You should be reporting on the facts. You should be reporting on cases. Do you have the numbers of how many American citizens were killed at the hands of illegal aliens who ICE is trying to remove from this country? I bet you don't. I bet you didn’t even read up on those stories," she said.

She went on to add that "the brave men and women of ICE are doing everything in their power to remove those heinous individuals and make our communities safer."