US President Donald Trump said on Friday there was no immediate need to invoke the Insurrection Act in response to protests against immigration raids in Minnesota, a day after he warned he could use the law.“If I needed it, I would use it. I don’t think there is any reason right now to use it,” Trump told reporters at the White House when asked about the measure, which permits the deployment of soldiers on US soil.
This marks a tone-down from when the president had raised the possibility of deploying the military to the northern state for law enforcement purposes amid demonstrations against wide-ranging immigration operations led by his administration. “If the corrupt politicians of Minnesota don’t obey the law and stop the professional agitators and insurrectionists from attacking the Patriots of ICE, 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 had said in a post on Truth Social earlier.Protests in Minneapolis have seen crowds clash with immigration officers attempting to detain undocumented migrants, with some officers responding forcefully. Federal agents discharged their weapons in two separate incidents, wounding a Venezuelan man on Wednesday and killing an American woman last week.An AFP correspondent also witnessed officers roughly pulling a woman from her car on Tuesday, as the federal presence in the state continued to expand. Supporters of stricter immigration enforcement have since confronted opponents, leading to further tense encounters.Democratic Minnesota Governor Tim Walz accused federal agents of carrying out “a campaign of organized brutality against the people of Minnesota,” in a video posted on X on Wednesday night.The Insurrection Act allows a president to bypass the Posse Comitatus Act to suppress “armed rebellion” or “domestic violence,” authorising the use of the armed forces “as he considers necessary” to enforce the law.
