ACLU Statement on President Trump’s Threat to Invoke the Insurrection Act and Deploy Military Troops to Minneapolis

Today, President Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act to send military troops to Minneapolis. The threat comes a week after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent shot and killed Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old mother in a south Minneapolis neighborhood, and hours after reports that ICE shot two additional Minneapolis residents.

The following is a statement from Hina Shamsi, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s National Security Project:

“Invoking the Insurrection Act is unnecessary, irresponsible, and dangerous. President Trump is continuing to stoke fear in a situation his administration created by unleashing lawless, armed federal agents against our communities. It’s hard to think of another instance in which a president would deploy troops to enable further federal deprivation of people’s rights.

“The real risk to people’s safety comes from ICE and other federal agents’ violence against our communities, and the killing of Renee Good starkly shows what happens when ICE operates without accountability. But no matter what uniform they wear, armed federal agents and military troops are bound by our constitutional rights to peaceful assembly, freedom of speech, and due process. If troops or federal agents violate these boundaries, they and their leadership must be held accountable.

“What’s needed now is not federal escalation, but deescalation. Congress must demand these mass federal law enforcement forces leave Minneapolis and refuse to fund ICE and CBP until the administration backs down.”