President Trump has just threatened to deploy federal troops to Minnesota, suggesting he will use a rarely invoked piece of legislation that’s over 200 years old to manage the situation. This is a serious escalation in the ongoing tension between the White House and state governments, and Minnesota’s leadership isn’t having it.
Gov. Tim Walz has already pushed back hard on the idea of federal intervention, telling the administration to stay away. Walz used a press conference last week to deliver a very simple and direct message. He stated clearly, “We do not need any further help from the federal government.” He didn’t stop there, adding a pointed message: “To Donald Trump and [Homeland Security Secretary] Kristi Noem, you’ve done enough.”
President Trump took to social media on Thursday to make his threat public. He claimed that the “corrupt politicians of Minnesota” weren’t doing their job to stop “professional agitators and insurrectionists” who he says are attacking “Patriots of I.C.E.” Trump promised that if they don’t shape up and “obey the law,” he would “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.”
Using government troops in our cities against our own people, already having killed one
The law he’s talking about is the Insurrection Act of 1807. This thing is ancient, but it gives the president some serious authority. Essentially, it permits the president to deploy military members or federalize the state National Guard to handle an insurrection or obstruction of laws within a U.S. state. The Act reads that in cases of obstruction or insurrection, the president can “employ, for the same purposes, such part of the land or naval force of the United States, as shall be judged necessary.”
This Act is a massive exception to the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, which is the law designed to limit the federal government’s interference in state law enforcement. In fact, a federal judge ruled last September that President Trump violated the 1878 Act when he deployed 4,000 members of the National Guard and 700 Marines to Los Angeles.
The Insurrection Act is much stronger than what President Trump usually relies on, which is Title 10. Title 10 lets the president deploy National Guard troops into cities to support local police in a supporting function, but the Insurrection Act goes much further, giving the federal troops far more authority over law enforcement operations inside the state.
President Trump has suggested using the Act several times during his terms, including when he considered sending troops to Minneapolis in 2020 after the killing of George Floyd, and last October when he told reporters he was “allowed” to send troops to Portland.
It’s true that other presidents have used this law, but it hasn’t happened often. The last time a U.S. president invoked it was in 1992. President H.W. Bush sent 4,000 federal troops to Los Angeles after the state’s governor specifically requested federal help to calm violent protests following the acquittal of officers in the Rodney King beating case. Bush spoke from the Oval Office at the time, expressing his hope that the troops would help restore peace.
The situation in Minnesota is dramatically different from that 1992 event, which is why Gov. Walz is so against the move. When Bush deployed federal troops, 40 people had been killed, over 1,500 were injured, and more than 3,000 arrests had been made. Minnesota hasn’t seen chaos on that scale, and ICE is doing the damage wherever it goes instead.
Published: Jan 16, 2026 06:19 am