WASHINGTON, Jan 15 — United States (US) President Donald Trump has threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act to deploy military forces in Minnesota after days of angry protests over a surge in immigration agents on the streets of Minneapolis.
Trump, a Republican, has been deriding the state's Democratic leaders and has called the Somali community in the area "garbage."
"If the corrupt politicians of Minnesota do not 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," he wrote on social media on Thursday, using an acronym for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.
Trump has already sent nearly 3,000 federal officers into the Minneapolis area, who have carried guns through the city's icy streets, wearing military-style camouflage gear and masks that hide their faces.
They have frequently been met with loud, often angry protests by residents, some blowing whistles or banging tambourines. Anger has deepened after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent fatally shot Renee Good, a US citizen, in a car eight days ago, and protests have spread to other cities.
His latest threat came a few hours after an immigration officer shot a Venezuelan man they said was fleeing a traffic stop in Minneapolis.
The US Department of Homeland Security, which is overseeing Trump's immigration crackdown, said that during Wednesday's incident, two people attacked the federal officer with a broomstick and snow shovel as he wrestled with the Venezuelan, who the DHS said was in the US illegally.
Reuters was unable to verify the account provided by DHS.
The Insurrection Act of 1807 is a law that allows the President to deploy the military or federalise the National Guard in a state to quell rebellion, an exception to laws prohibiting soldiers from being used in civil or criminal law enforcement.
It has been used 30 times in US history, according to New York University's Brennan Centre for Justice. The Supreme Court has ruled that the president alone can determine if the act's conditions have been met.
Trump's aggressive moves in Minnesota have divided his supporters: 59 per cent of Republicans favoured a policy prioritising arrests by immigration officers even if people get hurt, while 39 per cent said officers should focus on reducing harm to people even if it means fewer arrests, according to a Reuters/Ipsos survey released on Thursday.
