Trump threatens to send the military to Minnesota if authorities fail to stop 'attacks' against ICE
Donald Trump threatened on Thursday to invoke the Insurrection Act, an exceptional law that would deploy the military to maintain public order in the US, if Minnesota authorities fail to end “attacks” against ICE, according to France Presse and Reuters. The threat of the American president comes after several days of protests against the increase in the number of immigration agents on the streets of Minneapolis.
Immigration Service Agents – Minneapolis. PHOTO EPA-EFE
“If Minnesota's corrupt politicians don't follow the law and stop professional agitators and insurgents from attacking ICE patriots who are just trying to do their job, I will invoke the INSURRECTION ACT“, Trump sent on his social network Truth Social, using the acronym of the Agency for Immigration and Customs Control, writes Agerpres, citing the two foreign press agencies.
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent killed a woman a week ago, which sparked a wave of protests.
Trump calls Somalis 'garbage'
President Donald Trump (Republican) ridiculed the state's Democratic leaders and called “garbage” the Somali community in the area.
The American president has already sent nearly 3,000 federal officers to the Minneapolis area, who took to the streets of the city with guns, dressed in camouflage gear and with masks hiding their faces.
Trump's threat comes a day after an immigration police officer opened fire on a Venezuelan man who he said was fleeing a traffic stop in Minneapolis.
The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees Trump's immigration crackdown, said that during Wednesday's incident, two people attacked the federal officer with a broom and a snow shovel as he struggled with the Venezuelan, who DHS said was in the US illegally. Reuters could not verify the DHS information.
Insurrection law, a form of state of emergency
The law invoked by Donald Trump, a compilation of laws from the 18th and 19th centuries, is a form of emergency that allows the federal government to use the military for law enforcement purposes in the United States. It was last invoked in 1992, in California, during the riots that followed the death of Rodney King.
According to New York University's Brennan Center for Justice, it has been used 30 times in US history. The Supreme Court ruled that only the president can determine whether the conditions of the law are met.
Donald Trump's decisions in Minnesota have divided his supporters: 59 percent of Republicans support a policy that prioritizes arrests by immigration officers, even if people are injured, while 39 percent said officers should focus on reducing harm to people, even if that means fewer arrests, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released Thursday.
