United States President Donald Trump has threatened to deploy US troops to Minnesota using a historic presidential power as protests intensify over a sweeping federal immigration operation and a second shooting involving an immigration officer in Minneapolis in just over a week.
A federal immigration officer shot and wounded a Venezuelan man during a confrontation on Thursday, an incident now under investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation as well as Minnesota authorities.
The unrest was triggered eight days earlier when an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent fatally shot 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good, a US citizen, setting off vigils, street protests and mounting anger over the scale, tactics and visibility of federal enforcement in the city.
The Trump administration has called Good a "domestic terrorist" who tried to run the ICE officer over with her vehicle.
Local leaders and protesters across the country have condemned the shooting, saying the fact that Good turned her wheels away from the ICE officer as she drove past him proved her peaceful intentions.
State and city leaders have said the sudden influx of thousands of federal agents has bypassed local authority and inflamed tensions, while the Trump administration says officers are facing organised attacks while carrying out lawful duties.
As violent clashes continue and the White House signals a possible escalation, Minnesota is expected to become the most prominent test case of the administration's immigration strategy.
Trump raises prospect of troop deployment
In a post to Truth Social on Thursday, Trump said he would invoke the Insurrection Act if Minnesota officials fail to stop what he described as "professional agitators and insurrectionists" attacking immigration officers.
The Insurrection Act, passed in 1807, allows a US president to deploy active-duty troops inside the country or take control of a state's national guard without congressional approval.
It is one of the most far-reaching emergency powers available to a president and has been used only sparingly in modern US history.
Trump wrote ICE agents were being targeted while "only trying to do their job", arguing state and city leaders had lost control.
The Supreme Court has previously ruled that the decision to invoke the act rests solely with the president, leaving little room for states to block its use once triggered.
Trump has repeatedly raised the prospect of using the law during periods of civil unrest and disputes over immigration enforcement.
If he chooses to invoke the act, it's not clear what legal challenges he might face.
Disputing accusations of misconduct, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which is overseeing Trump's immigration crackdown, has said its agents have increasingly been subject to assaults while trying to find and detain immigration violators.
DHS also has rejected accusations of racial profiling, saying arrests are based on reasonable suspicion that individuals lack legal immigration status.
Federal enforcement surge reshapes Minneapolis
Sprawling protests across the US are in response to a dramatic expansion of federal immigration enforcement, officially part of a nationwide operation targeting cities the Trump administration says have failed to cooperate with immigration laws.
Minneapolis became a focal point after Good was fatally shot by an ICE agent on 7 January. The Trump administration says the agent acted in self-defence, while local officials argue the woman posed no danger.
The homeland security department says about 3,000 federal agents have been deployed to Minnesota as part of the operation, which it says is the largest such mobilisation in US history.
Minneapolis has roughly 600 police officers, mayor Jacob Frey said, highlighting the scale of the federal presence relative to local law enforcement.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz says the scale of the immigration crackdown in the city is causing widespread panic and fear.
"News reports simply don't do justice to the level of chaos and disruption and trauma the federal government is raining down upon our communities," he said.
"Armed, masked, under-trained ICE agents are going door to door, ordering people to point out where their neighbours of colour live. They're pulling over people indiscriminately, including US citizens, and demanding to see their papers."
Residents reported armed agents patrolling neighbourhood streets in military-style camouflage and face coverings, conducting arrests during traffic stops and neighbourhood operations, and at times seen smashing car windows and pulling occupants from vehicles.
Several incidents have allegedly involved Black and Latino US citizens being stopped and asked for identification, raising claims of racial profiling.
As the operation continued, residents confronted agents with whistles, chants and organised demonstrations.
Tensions escalated further when a federal immigration officer shot and injured a Venezuelan man during a confrontation in Minneapolis overnight.
The homeland security department said the man fled after agents attempted to stop his vehicle and was tackled outside a residence. Two other people emerged from an apartment and allegedly attacked the officer with a snow shovel and a broom handle.
After the suspect broke free and joined the struggle, the officer fired "defensive shots," striking the man in the leg, the department said.
Minneapolis Police chief Brian O'Hara said the injuries were not life-threatening and the man is recovering in hospital.
'Disgusting and intolerable'
Street clashes have further escalated in Minneapolis.
Footage showed federal agents deploying tear gas and flash bangs, while some demonstrators launched fireworks and engaged directly with officers.
Walz accused federal agents of "kidnapping people for no reason", and Frey described the looming operation as an "invasion", and denounced some conduct he witnessed "disgusting and intolerable".
"If it were your city, it would be unacceptable there too," Frey said during a briefing on Thursday.
The Trump administration rejected those claims and defended the enforcement campaign, insisting agents were performing their duties amid growing hostility.
Trump's immigration policies, which are centred around deportations, have been linked to major shifts in US immigration patterns.
Analysis by the Brookings Institution — a non-profit public policy organisation — indicates entries to the US fell sharply in 2025 compared with 2024.
Brookings estimates net migration in 2025 was between 10,000 and 295,000, marking the first year of negative net migration in at least half a century, due to various policy changes, including increased removals, voluntary departures, and intensified interior enforcement.
The nonprofit World Relief said dozens of weekend arrests of legal refugees in the state, including children, were part of a Trump effort to re-vet refugees who entered under Trump's Democratic predecessor, Joe Biden.
Asked about accusations from the nonprofit World Relief that legal refugees have been arrested, the DHS referred to accusations of fraud against members of Minnesota's Somali community.
"The Trump administration will not stand idly by as the US immigration system is weaponized by those seeking to defraud the American people," a DHS spokesperson said.
Trump has seized on the fraud accusations, calling Somali immigrants in Minnesota "garbage" whom he wants deported. Administration officials have sought to tie the Minneapolis crackdown to the scandal.
Trump's legal battles
The American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota filed a class-action lawsuit alleging violations of the US constitution's fourth amendment, which states people should be protected from unreasonable searches and seizures.
Minnesota and the cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul also sued federal officials, accusing agents of unlawful arrests, racial profiling, and warrantless entry into homes.
A judge declined to immediately block the operation but ordered the administration to respond, describing the constitutional questions raised as "enormously important".
With additional reporting by Reuters.
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