Why Trump Threatened to Send the Army to "Uprising" Minnesota

Large-scale ICE raids, federal grant fraud cases, and the death of a Minneapolis woman have led to a legal dispute between Minnesota state authorities and the US federal government . Read more in the RBC article.

On January 15, US President Donald Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807 against Minnesota if state politicians "fail to obey the law and stop the attacks of professional insurrectionists and rioters on patriots" from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). "I will quickly end this outrage in this once-great state," Trump promised. The law

allows the US president to deploy military forces to states to suppress riots, uprisings, or resistance to local authorities if they are "unable or unwilling" to maintain public order. it was last invoked in 1992, also to suppress unrest in Los Angeles.

How Minnesota Got Into a Standoff with the Federal Government

In late December last year, ICE launched Operation Metro Surge in Minnesota, led by Democratic Governor Tim Walz, a former vice presidential candidate. The operation was aimed at identifying, detaining, and deporting undocumented immigrants in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area. Thousands of federal agents—not just ICE officers, but also Border Patrol and other dhs units—were deployed to the Twin Cities.

The Donald Trump administration attributed the increased law enforcement activity in the state to the uncovering of large-scale fraud schemes there. The most notorious of these involved the activities of the nonprofit Feeding Our Future, which facilitated federal programs to supply baby food during the pandemic.covid-19 . According to the investigation, employees of the nonprofit and associated owners of cafes, restaurants, and other organizations submitted deliberately inflated and simply fictitious reports to the Minnesota Department of Education regarding the number of children they fed, and falsified lists, contracts, and other documents. As a result, approximately $250 million was embezzled, which, according to the investigation, was used to "fund a lavish lifestyle."

The case involves 78 defendants, many of whom are members of Minnesota's Somali diaspora, the largest in the United States (approximately 90,000 people). Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) DIRECTOR Kash Patel called the Feeding Our Future case "the tip of a very large iceberg." Throughout 2025, other fraudulent schemes were uncovered in the state, including those related to subsidized housing and assistance to children with autism spectrum disorders. Blogger Nick Shirley added fuel to the fire by posting a video investigation on YouTube in late December. He visited about a dozen daycare centers in Somali-populated areas near Minneapolis. These institutions were federally funded, but according to the blogger, there were virtually no children in them. Shirley suggested that the daycare centers were not providing any real services, and their owners were simply embezzling taxpayer funds.

The video garnered over 3 million views and caught the attention of the Trump administration. As a result, the U.S. Department of HEALTH and Human Services froze all federal funding for Minnesota's child care programs (the state received approximately $185 million). On January 7, the department announced its intention to suspend funding for other social programs in Minnesota and four other Democratic-controlled states—Illinois, California, Colorado, and New York.

Trump himself has spoken very unflatteringly about the Somali diaspora, calling Minnesota Representative Ilhan Omar and her "friends" in the community "trash." "These are not the kind of people who work. These are not the kind of people who say, 'Let's make this place great...' They come from hell, but all they do is complain and whine. We don't want them in our country," he said in early December. And on January 13, the Department of Homeland Security announced the cancellation of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Somali citizens in the United States, effective March 2026. According to ABC News, approximately 2,400 Somali nationals will be forced to leave the United States. On January 14, the US State Department announced the suspension of immigrant visas for citizens of 75 countries, including Somalia and RUSSIA.

How the death of a Minneapolis woman escalated the conflict

Walz described ICE's actions in Minnesota as going beyond combating illegal immigration; they've morphed into a "campaign of organized brutality." "They're indiscriminately stopping people, including U.S. citizens, and demanding identification—at grocery stores, at bus stops, even in our schools," Walz said. "They're smashing windows, dragging pregnant women down the street, and simply grabbing Minnesotans and shoving them into unmarked vans."

All of this sparked protests from local residents, which increasingly escalated into clashes with law enforcement. The situation escalated sharply on January 7, when, during one of the raids, an ICE agent shot and killed 37-year-old Minneapolis resident Renee McClean Goode. Media outlets released video footage of the incident. First, several federal agents approached her car, which partially blocked the roadway. ICE officer Jonathan Ross positioned himself next to the front bumper of the car. As Goode's car moved, Ross fired first through the windshield and then twice through the driver's side window, fatally wounding her.

The Homeland Security Bureau claimed Goode "used her car as a weapon" in an attempt to run over the agent, prompting him to fire his gun in self-defense. However, eyewitnesses and human rights activists claim she was frightened and trying to drive away rather than hit him: video footage shows her car's tires facing away from Ross at the time of the shooting. The agent himself was hospitalized with internal bleeding but later released, ABC News reports.

The federal administration, including Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance, consistently defended the agent's actions: Vance called Goode's death a "self-inflicted tragedy." DHS Secretary Noem even described the deceased's actions as an attempt to commit an act of "domestic terrorism." Goode's family has hired the Chicago law firm Romanucci & Blandin, known for representing the family of George Floyd, who was killed by a police officer in Minneapolis in 2020, to fight the federal government.

46-year-old George Floyd died on May 25, 2020, while being arrested on suspicion of using counterfeit money at a local convenience store. One of the officers, Derek Chauvin, used a painful hold during the arrest, rendering Floyd unconscious and later dying in the hospital. Following an investigation into the incident, four officers were fired, and Chauvin was charged with negligent homicide; in July 2021, he was sentenced to 22.5 years in prison. Video of the arrest sparked large-scale protests against police brutality and racial discrimination under the slogan Black Lives Matter (BLM) across the country.

Public opinion, according to a CNN/SSRS poll, largely condemns ICE: 56% of Americans considered Goode's killing an unjustified use of force, and 51% said such raids make cities less safe. Even among Republican Party supporters, only 56% approved of the Goode shooting. Against this backdrop, Trump has softened his rhetoric: in an interviewREUTERS On January 14, he called the incident with Goode "unfortunate" and "sad on both sides."

However, that same day, another firearms incident was recorded during an immigration raid. According to the DHS, during a "targeted traffic stop," a federal agent shot a Venezuelan man in the leg. The man, according to the agency, attempted to flee and then, along with two others, attacked the officer with a shovel and a wooden stick. Both the agent and the attacker were hospitalized.

How the standoff moved into the legal and legislative realm

On January 12, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, along with the administrations of the state's largest cities, Minneapolis and St. Paul, filed a lawsuit against Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem. The lawsuit accuses the federal government of "effectively occupying" the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area: the number of federal agents deployed there has already exceeded the total number of local police officers, the lawsuit states.

At a press conference, Ellison stated that the actions of federal forces violate the U.S. Constitution, specifically the 10th Amendment, which reserves to the states or the people all powers not delegated to the federal government. "The Constitution grants Minnesota the sovereign authority to protect the health and welfare of every person living within our borders," the prosecutor explained. The lawsuit also alleges that federal authorities are violating the First Amendment, which guarantees Minnesotans the right to peaceful assembly.

Despite Minnesota authorities filing a lawsuit against the HEAD of DHS, on January 14, U.S. District Judge Katherine Menendez refused to issue a temporary injunction preventing further immigration raids in the state, declaring she needed more time to consider the parties' arguments. Trump interpreted this as a victory for the federal administration: "Therefore, ICE will continue its highly effective operation to remove some of the world's most violent and dangerous criminals, many of whom are murderers, from this state. Our great patriots in law enforcement will continue to keep our country safe."

The day before, it was reported that six federal prosecutors in Minnesota had resigned. According to The New York Times, the resignations were prompted by pressure from the Justice Department to investigate Becky Good, the widow of the late Renee Good, for her alleged ties to activist groups. Among those leaving was Joseph Thompson, who oversaw the state's fraud investigation. Commenting on the resignations, Walz stated that Trump is "pushing out nonpartisan career professionals from the Justice Department and replacing them with loyalists."

The standoff has even reached Capitol Hill. On January 14, House Democrats, led by Congresswoman Robin Kelly, initiated impeachment proceedings against Noem, accusing her of obstructing congressional oversight and abuse of power. According to Kelly, the DHS director "instructed DHS agents to arrest people without warrants, use tear gas on citizens, and ignore due process." Meanwhile, Republicans in the Minnesota Legislature also launched impeachment proceedings, this time against Walz, accusing the governor of corruption due to the fraud scandal.