The Donald Trump government sharply escalated its crackdown against Minnesota this week — opening a criminal investigation into elected leaders and preparing to deploy additional troops. The move comes days after the President threatened to use the Insurrection Act if officials in the state did not stop protesters from targeting immigration officials.
According to a Washington Post report on Sunday, the Pentagon has now ordered about 1,500 active-duty soldiers to prepare for a possible deployment to Minnesota. The army reportedly placed multiple units on prepare-to-deploy orders in case violence in the state escalated.
“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,” Trump warned via Truth Social on Thursday.
Governor Tim Walz mobilises state National Guard
The office of governor Tim Walz announced on Saturday that National Guard troops had been mobilised in response to the chaos. They are yet to be delployed but remain ready to assist law enforcement.
What is happening in Minnesota?
Protests have raged across Democrat-run Minnesota over the past month — taking a significantly violent turn in recent days. Thousands of gun-toting federal officials now roam the streets in tactical gear while protesters brave the cold to raise almost daily vehement objections.
A major catalyst was the death of Renee Good on January 7 after she joined a neighbourhood patrol network of activists tracking and monitoring the activities of federal officers. ICE agents had fatally shot the 37-year-old US citizen at close range while she was behind the wheel of her car. The White House has been vehement in its criticism of Good and tagged her as a “domestic terrorist”. The Trump administration also ignored calls for an end to the ICE surge — instead sending hundreds of additional agents to bolster the roughly 2,000 already deployed in the city.
Resident accounts and videos spreading through social media suggest the agents are now conducting roving sweeps and arresting people without warrants. Reuters journalists reported that scores of agents have been spotted carrying weapons through residential neighborhoods while wearing military-style camouflage gear and masks to cover their faces. They are often met by residents blowing whistles and shouting at the officers.
The agents have also smashed car windows and pulled people from their vehicles — with one recent video showing ICE forcibly dragging a woman from her car while she repeatedly tells them she is disabled. Others were spotted confronting non-white US citizens in public spaces and demanding to see their identification before walking away, drawing angry jeers and accusations of racism from bystanders. According to reports, they have also used chemical irritants on protesters — sometimes firing orange pepper spray into faces at close range or igniting flash-bang grenades near groups in the street.
Immigration officers have also arrested legal refugees as well as US citizens who allegedly disrupted their work. Groups of agents have been spotted chased protesters — including at least one dressed in a giraffe costume — before wrestling them to the ground to detain them.
A US immigration officer also shot and wounded a Venezuelan man fleeing a traffic stop in Minneapolis on Wednesday. The US Department of Homeland Security claimed officers had opened fire after two people attacked the agent with a broomstick and snow shovel while he was wrestling with the Venezuelan. DHS also said he was in the country illegally.