Trump administration weighs invoking Insurrection Act to deploy military troops in Minnesota

As protests continue in the United States over the immigration crackdown, the Trump administration is reportedly considering invoking the Insurrection Act.

Tear gas was used on the streets of Minnesota to counter protests triggered by the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good by a federal agent. U.S. President Donald Trump's immigration enforcement has triggered similar scenes across the U.S. over the past year.

But Trump's tone has marked Minnesota as an inflection point.

"I don't think there's any reason right now to use it [Insurrection Act ], but if I needed it, I'd use it. It's very powerful," he told reporters on Jan. 16.

What Trump was threatening to use was one of the most controversial pieces of legislation enshrined in 1807 to effectively use the military for law enforcement.

The Insurrection Act was last used in 1992 when deadly protests engulfed Los Angeles after four white police officers caught on camera beating African American Rodney King were acquitted of the most serious charges. And before that, outrage over the assassination of Martin Luther King in 1968 brought troops onto the streets of cities like Detroit and Washington D.C.

The Insurrection Act states that "Whenever the President considers that unlawful obstructions, combinations, or assemblages, or rebellion against the authority of the United States, make it impracticable to enforce the laws of the United States in any State by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings, he may call into Federal service such of the militia of any State, and use such of the armed forces, as he considers necessary to enforce those laws or to suppress the rebellion."

Some legal scholars say the Insurrection Act is a dangerous escalation, while others argue Trump is within his rights to do so.

Trump has already deployed National Guard soldiers across the U.S. over the objections of local authorities. His administration insists their role is limited to supporting immigration enforcement and while they do not arrest people, they can detain them.

In Washington D.C, some say they don't see the difference, while others welcome the presence of troops in the capital.

"The insurrectionist in chief is turning his insurrectionist army loose on the United States of America," said a Washington D.C. resident.

"I like them here because I live across the street and they really look out for me. Because I sometimes like to walk a lot. So I'll be out there at night and I see them, they say 'hi,' I say "hi, how are you doing?'" said another resident.

While Trump has backed off deploying more National Guard troops to cities like Chicago, they are expected to stay in Washington D.C. for the rest of 2026.

Trump administration weighs invoking Insurrection Act to deploy military troops in Minnesota

Smart technologies have reshaped China's ecological and environmental monitoring system, Huang Runqiu, minister of Ecology and Environment, said Thursday in Beijing on the sidelines of the fourth session of the 14th National People's Congress(NPC).

"Regarding ecological and environmental monitoring, we have been promoting the digitalization, informatization, and intelligentization of the entire monitoring process in recent years, reshaping the ecological and environmental monitoring system. For instance, in water environment monitoring and sampling, we have used intelligent drones which can quickly locate sampling points, collect samples accurately, return rapidly, and they are safe and reliable, improving work efficiency by over 70 percent. They are particularly advantageous for sampling during flood seasons and in remote areas," Huang told the press.

"In terms of environmental sample analysis, we have developed 'lights-out laboratories' in recent years. As the name suggests, these labs operate without lights and are unattended. Through robotic arms, robots, and intelligent management systems, they achieve full-process automation and intelligence from sample handover, testing, and analysis to report generation. This has significantly enhanced work efficiency, increasing it by more than eightfold compared to traditional labs. More importantly, it reduces human interference, human error, and even data falsification," he said.

Thanks to the improved ecological and environmental supervision capabilities, the number of environmental violation cases nationwide has decreased from 130,000 five years ago to 43,000 last year, representing a decline of 68 percent, Huang said.

The minister said China has already applied environmental DNA technology in the biodiversity monitoring work.

"In the field of biodiversity monitoring, monitoring aquatic organisms remains a weak point. However, significant progress has been made in recent years as we have developed environmental DNA technology. Although this chip is very small in size, it contains DNA detection information for aquatic organisms, including the finless porpoise and the Chinese sucker, from 19 state-controlled sections in the Jiangsu segment of the Yangtze River. The results showed that over the past five years, more than 20 species of aquatic organisms have increased in this river section, fully demonstrating the tangible effectiveness of the ten-year fishing ban in the Yangtze River," Huang said while showing a chip to reporters.

The 14th NPC, China's national legislature, concluded its fourth session on Thursday.

Smart technologies reshape China's ecological, environmental monitoring system: minister