Trump threatens to invoke Insurrection Act amid unrest after second ICE-involved shooting

President Donald Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807 on Thursday to restore order amid ongoing riots against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials in Minneapolis in the wake of a second ICE-involved shooting Wednesday night.

"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, I will institute the INSURRECTION ACT, which many Presidents have done before me, and quickly put an end to the travesty that is taking place in that once great State," Trump said in a Truth Social post.

Trump's threat came the morning after an ICE officer shot an illegal Venezuelan immigrant in the leg after he allegedly fled during a traffic stop and attempted to beat the officer with a shovel, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

DHS claimed the officer was "fearing for his life and safety" when the suspect "violently assaulted" him. The suspect was reportedly in stable condition, and the ICE agent remains hospitalized. The shooting came a week after an ICE agent fatally shot Renee Nicole Good, video of whom shows her driving her vehicle into him after refusing to comply with officers.

Tensions broke out around the scene shortly after the second shooting Wednesday night, with footage circulating on social media that shows agents deploying tear gas amid enraged anti-ICE protesters, some of whom reportedly ripped a weapons locker out of a federal vehicle and stole ammunition.

Nick Sortor is asking to please share this video

Minneapolis rioters broke open a weapons locker in a federal vehicle

They stole a rifle and ammunition

He was able to capture the thief’s face and license plate on the getaway vehicle ????

pic.twitter.com/PFUcQBH62g

— Wall Street Apes (@WallStreetApes) January 15, 2026

The Insurrection Act of 1807, the precursor of which was enacted by the first Congress in 1792, allows the president to assert federal authority by nationalizing the National Guard and deploying the military domestically to enforce the law and suppress rebellion. It has been invoked by several presidents, including Andrew Jackson during Nat Turner's slave rebellion, Abraham Lincoln when southern states seceded and John F. Kennedy during the riots over desegregation.

Former President George H.W. Bush was the last to invoke it to quell the 1992 riots in Los Angeles following the acquittal of four LAPD officers who were charged with using excessive force against Rodney King. Trump stopped short of invoking it during the Black Lives Matter riots in 2020, though he threatened to do so.

During a primetime speech riddled with technical difficulties delivered shortly before the latest ICE shooting, Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz implied ICE officers are racist, accusing them of "going door to door, ordering people to point out where their neighbors of color live" and "kidnapping innocent people with no warning and no due process."

"News reports simply don't do justice to the level of chaos and disruption and trauma the federal government is raining down upon our communities," he said.

He urged Minnesotans to record ICE agents to "bank evidence for future prosecution."

"Carry your phone with you at all times," he said. "If you see these ICE agents in your neighborhood, take out that phone and hit record."

"Help us create a database of the atrocities against Minnesotans."

The White House mocked Walz for his glitchy address and urged him to resign.

"Tampon [Walz] is currently attempting to do a live, highly produced statewide address to condemn the enforcement of our immigration laws in Minnesota … but it's not going so well," an X post from the White House's Rapid Response account said, referring to Walz by a popular nickname that mocks him for signing legislation that placed tampons in boys' restrooms in Minnesota public schools.

"You're a loser,  @GovTimWalz — and you always will be," the post added. "Just resign in disgrace, you buffoon."

Tampon is currently attempting to do a live, highly produced statewide address to condemn the enforcement of our immigration laws in Minnesota... but it's not going so well ????

You're a loser, @GovTimWalz — and you always will be.

Just resign in disgrace, you buffoon. pic.twitter.com/pYhKNyZ8ra

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

After news of the shooting broke, Walz appeared to call for peace, writing, "I know you're angry. I'm angry. What Donald Trump wants is violence in the streets. But Minnesota will remain an island of decency, of justice, of community, and of peace. Don't give him what he wants." He also issued a statement Thursday morning urging Trump "to turn the temperature down."

Amid scrutiny regarding allegations of widespread social services fraud in his state, Walz announced earlier this month that he would be stepping aside from running for a historic third term as governor, claiming he doesn't have enough time to campaign while "defending the people of Minnesota against the criminals who prey on our generosity and the cynics who prey on our differences."