President Donald Trump has said he may invoke the rarely used Insurrection Act as unrest continues in Minneapolis following federal immigration enforcement operations and a series of violent confrontations involving law enforcement. The warning came after a night of protests, vandalism, and clashes with police following an incident in which a federal immigration agent shot a man in the leg during an encounter described by authorities as an attack on an officer.
According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the shooting occurred Wednesday after a car chase involving Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, a Venezuelan national previously convicted of driving without a license. DHS said that after the pursuit ended, Sosa-Celis exited his vehicle and became involved in a physical confrontation with a federal agent. The agency stated that two additional Venezuelan nationals who entered the country illegally — Alfredo Alejandro Ajorna and Gabriel Alejandro Hernandez-Ledezma — emerged from a nearby apartment and joined the altercation. DHS said all three men attacked the officer using a snow shovel and a broom handle, prompting the agent to open fire, striking Sosa-Celis in the leg.
Both the agent and Sosa-Celis were transported to a hospital. Authorities said the injuries were non-life-threatening. All three men were arrested. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem described the incident by saying, “What we saw last night in Minneapolis was an attempted murder of federal law enforcement,” adding that the officer was “ambushed and attacked” and fired a defensive shot.
The incident unfolded amid already heightened tensions in Minneapolis following the fatal shooting last week of 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent. That shooting sparked protests locally and nationwide, placing renewed attention on federal immigration enforcement tactics and the authority granted to federal agents. The Trump administration has said the ICE agent involved acted in self-defense, while local officials have disputed that assessment. The FBI is investigating the shooting, which was captured on video showing ICE agents approaching Good’s vehicle as it was stopped in the street. As the vehicle began to move forward, an agent fired three shots.
The unrest escalated Wednesday night in the Hawthorne area of Minneapolis near the scene of the shooting involving Sosa-Celis. Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said officers were struck with fireworks, ice, and snowballs during clashes with protesters. Federal authorities reported that several government vehicles were damaged and that property was stolen from inside them. On Thursday, the FBI announced it was offering a reward of up to $100,000 for information leading to the “recovery of stolen government property and/or the arrest of individuals responsible for the destruction and theft of government property.”
In response to the disorder, Trump posted on Truth Social that he would consider invoking the Insurrection Act if Minnesota officials failed to control what he described as “professional agitators and insurrectionists.” The Insurrection Act, enacted in 1807, allows the president to deploy active-duty military forces within the United States to perform law enforcement duties under specific circumstances. While Trump has previously raised the possibility of invoking the law in other situations, he has not done so to date.
Roughly 3,000 federal officers have been deployed to Minnesota in recent weeks as part of what the administration has described as Operation Metro Surge, a federal immigration enforcement initiative. Trump has said the operation will continue after a federal judge denied Minnesota prosecutors’ request for a temporary restraining order aimed at limiting ICE activity in the state.
Local and state leaders have urged de-escalation. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, who has called for ICE to leave the city, wrote on X, “No matter what led up to this incident, the situation we are seeing in our city is not sustainable.” Minnesota Governor Tim Walz also appealed directly to the president, posting on X, “Let’s turn the temperature down.” Walz told Minnesotans, “We cannot fan the flames of chaos.”
Walz, who previously referred to ICE as a “modern-day Gestapo,” recently ended his bid for re-election following a separate fraud scandal involving state welfare programs. His comments come as state and federal authorities navigate overlapping jurisdictional questions about public safety, immigration enforcement, and the appropriate use of federal power during civil unrest.
The ongoing unrest highlights the legal and political complexities surrounding federal immigration enforcement, the use of force by law enforcement, and the limits of executive authority during domestic disturbances. Fundraising efforts related to the earlier fatal shooting reflect the divided public response: an online fundraiser for Good’s widow and family has raised more than $1.4 million, while another fundraiser for Jonathan Ross, the ICE agent involved in that incident, has raised $740,000.
