What is the Insurrection Act and why does Trump want to use it in Minnesota?

On Thursday, US President Donald Trump said he would institute the Insurrection Act in light of ongoing anti-ICE demonstrations in Minnesota following the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good, a local resident who was driving past ICE officers after dropping her young son off at school.

The Insurrection Act of 1807 was a law passed during the 9th Congress under then-president Thomas Jefferson to allow the US president to send federal troops to states to stop revolts.

Since then, it has been built upon and modified multiple times and invoked dozens of times to quell unrest, including in labour disputes, civil rights and desegregation mandates, riots that have caused widespread destruction of property, and now by Trump to quell anti-ICE protests in Minnesota.

What are people saying?

Writing on his social media platform Truth Social on Thursday, Trump said: "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."

In response to Trump's post, Keith Ellison, the state’s attorney general, said the president instigated the demonstrations by sending thousands of ICE agents to Minnesota. He said there was no reason to invoke the Insurrection Act.

The state's top Democratic leaders are encouraging their residents to protest ICE peacefully and want the agency to leave immediately, suggesting they are the main reason for recent unrest.

What are some historic examples of the Insurrection Act being invoked?

The Insurrection Act has been invoked to quell labour disputes, enforce government-mandated desegregation, help prevent looting following natural disasters and various riots. Trump has invoked it multiple times in his first and second terms in response to protests, often against his policies.

Efforts at reform

Over the past several years, there have been multiple calls to reform the Insurrection Act. In 2020, Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut introduced the CIVIL Act (Curtailing Insurrection and Violations of Individuals' Liberties Act), a measure intended to prevent abuse of presidential power through the Insurrection Act.

In 2022, the Brennan Center for Justice proposed clarifying the language of the Insurrection Act to reflect present-day circumstances.

Why Minnesota?

Minnesota has long been a target for those hostile to demographic change and diversity.

Following significant immigration of Somalis to the state in the1990s, with the community mainly settling in the Twin Cities metro area, the state has seen a high level of hostility at the state and national levels.

The 2017 bombing of a mosque in Minnesota by members of a white supremacist gang from Illinois showed the extent to which the state had become a target for those hostile to the Somali community. Until now, the state has the highest rate of mosque attacks in the country.

The 2020 killing of George Floyd, a Black man, at the hands of a white police officer who had knelt on his neck, sparked widespread demonstrations. Multiple fires, including the arson of a local police precinct, became a PR victory for those wanting to depict the state as violent and unruly. These images have since been used in Republican campaign ads across the country.

Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, who fled war in Somalia with her parents as a child, is one of the biggest targets of Trump, who has repeatedly said he wants to see her sent back to Somalia.