{"id":46158,"date":"2026-01-16T12:46:48","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T20:46:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=46158"},"modified":"2026-01-16T12:47:42","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T20:47:42","slug":"minneapolis-is-the-test-case-trump-threatens-insurrection-act-to-put-down-protests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2026\/01\/16\/minneapolis-is-the-test-case-trump-threatens-insurrection-act-to-put-down-protests\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Minneapolis Is the Test Case\u2019: Trump Threatens Insurrection Act to Put Down Protests"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"'Minneapolis<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Demonstrators protest outside of the Whipple federal building on January 14, 2026 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Photo by Scott Olson\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Insurrection Act was always the plan,\u201d warned one critic of the president.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Brad Reed<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jan 15, 2026 (CommonDreams.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

President Donald Trump<\/a> on Thursday threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act, which would allow him to put the US military<\/a> on American streets, unless demonstrations against federal immigration<\/a> operations in Minneapolis come to an end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a Truth Social post<\/a>, Trump demanded that Minnesota elected officials \u201cstop the professional agitators and insurrectionists from attacking the Patriots of ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement<\/a>], who are only trying to do their job.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RECOMMENDED…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Immigration<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Unnecessary, Irresponsible, and Dangerous\u2019: ACLU Slams Trump\u2019s Insurrection Act Threat<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Minnesota<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Illinois, Minnesota Sue Over Trump Immigration Agents Who \u2018Have Acted as Occupiers\u2019<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

If this doesn\u2019t happen, the president said, he would invoke the Insurrection Act and \u201cquickly put an end to the travesty that is taking place\u201d in the state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Insurrection Act was always the plan, and Minneapolis is the test case,\u201d said<\/a> Melanie D\u2019Arrigo, executive director of the Campaign for New York Health. \u201cThey sent ICE in to terrorize and attack Black and brown communities to provoke a response that would justify deploying the military domestically in Blue cities. This has never been about immigration.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cInvoking the Insurrection Act to deploy military forces against the American people is the exact opposite of what Minneapolis \u2014 and the country \u2014 needs right now.\u201d \u2014Lisa Gilbert, Public Citizen<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rep. Ilhan Omar<\/a> (D-Minn.) made a similar warning last week, amid protests<\/a> that erupted after the killing of Renee Nicole Good by a federal agent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat we are seeing right now,\u201d said Omar, \u201cnot only from the surge of 2,000 federal agents\u2014now we have another 1,000 apparently coming in\u2014it is essentially trying to create this kind of environment where people feel intimidated, threatened, and terrorized. And I think the ultimate goal of [Homeland Security Security Secretary] Kristi Noem and President Trump is to agitate people enough where they are able to invoke the Insurrection Act to declare martial law.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere is,\u201d she continued, \u201cno other justifiable way to describe what is taking place in Minneapolis at this moment. There is no justifiable reason why this number of agents is here in our state.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Insurrection Act has not been used since 1992, when President George HW Bush invoked it at the request of then-California Gov. Pete Wilson to quell riots that had broken out in Los Angeles after a jury acquitted police officers who were caught on camera beating Rodney King.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cInvoking the Insurrection Act to deploy military forces against the American people is the exact opposite of what Minneapolis \u2014 and the country \u2014 needs right now,\u201d said Lisa Gilbert, co-president of Public Citizen in a statement Thursday morning.

\u201cThe violence in Minneapolis is being perpetrated by ICE. The solution is to end the ICE surge, not to further militarize the city, \u201d added Gilbert. \u201cDeploying military forces against the city and its citizens would be a doubling down on the threat Americans are facing from their own government. Trump should abandon this idea immediately and stop threatening to use the military against the American people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mass protests have erupted throughout Minneapolis since ICE agent Jonathan Ross fatally shot local resident Good, whom the Trump administration<\/a> posthumously smeared as a \u201cdomestic terrorist.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Protests against ICE presence in the city intensified on Wednesday night after a federal agent shot<\/a> a man in the leg during what the US Department of Homeland Security<\/a> (DHS) called a \u201ctargeted traffic stop.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Trump administration last week began surging thousands of ICE agents into Minneapolis, resulting in mass school closures and the disruption of daily life for the city\u2019s residents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The editorial board of the Minnesota Star Tribune<\/em> on Thursday described the city as being \u201cunder siege\u201d by the federal government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBattalions of armed federal agents are moving through neighborhoods, transit hubs, malls and parking lots and staging near churches, mosques and schools,\u201d the editorial explains. \u201cStrangers with guns have metastasized in spaces where daily life should be routine and safe. It feels like a military occupation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The editors then declared that \u201cwhat we are witnessing is the storming of the state by the federal government,\u201d insisting that \u201cthe occupation of Minnesota by ICE cannot stand.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A local Minneapolis resident who was out protesting against the ICE presence on Wednesday night told<\/a> Status Coup News<\/em> that he felt like the entire city was under assault.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nhttps:\/\/twitter.com\/i\/status\/2011648909748093077\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is nuts!\u201d he said. \u201cWhat the fuck is going on, dude, this is insane… You know what really pisses me off is the fact that they detain people, cuff them, and then still beat the shit out of them! They tell you it\u2019s immigrants, it\u2019s only immigrants? It\u2019s fucking anybody! I have friends who got detained and all they were doing was driving home from work!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brad Reed<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brad Reed is a staff writer for Common Dreams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full Bio ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Demonstrators protest outside of the Whipple federal building on January 14, 2026 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  (Photo by Scott Olson\/Getty Images) \u201cThe Insurrection Act was always the plan,\u201d warned one critic of the president. Brad Reed Jan 15, 2026 (CommonDreams.org) President Donald Trump on Thursday threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act, which would… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46158"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46158"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46158\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46160,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46158\/revisions\/46160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}