Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota sought to calm escalating tensions in his state on Thursday, asking protesters to demonstrate peacefully and pleading with President Trump to back off his threat to deploy the U.S. military to Minneapolis. White House officials, in turn, accused Mr. Walz and other local leaders of encouraging violence.
Another shooting by a federal agent — the second there in a week — touched off more clashes between protesters and police officers in Minneapolis on Wednesday evening. In response, the president said he would consider invoking the Insurrection Act, which allows him to use the military to quash an insurrection or invasion.
Mr. Walz implored the president to “turn the temperature down” and “stop this campaign of retribution,” as administration officials used increasingly strident language to describe demonstrations against Immigration and Customs Enforcement action. Raids and arrests by federal agents have put the region on edge, with officials letting students attend classes online after a clash outside a Minneapolis high school.
Renee Good, the woman shot and killed in her car last week, has been labeled a domestic terrorist by Trump aides, while Stephen Miller, a top White House official, on Thursday described the protests as an “insurgency.” Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said Mr. Trump’s threats to invoke the Insurrection Act were a warning to Democrats.
Here’s what we’re covering:
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New shooting: Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, who entered the United States in 2022, was taken into custody after being shot in the leg by a federal agent on Wednesday, along with two other men. Federal officials accused them of assaulting an agent with a shovel and a broom. A federal spokeswoman said Mr. Sosa-Celis was a Venezuelan national who was in the country illegally and resisting arrest. Read more ›
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Legal action: Lawyers representing the family of Ms. Good, a 37-year-old poet, said on Thursday that they anticipate taking legal action against the federal government and have asked officials to preserve all possible evidence. They earlier announced they would investigate Ms. Good’s killing and described her as a mother of three and a person of faith. Ms. Good and her partner, Becca Good, were not legally married, the lawyers said, but were “committed partners devoted to their family.” Read more ›
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ICE tactics: Guidelines for federal law enforcement agents encourage them to try to de-escalate heated encounters and use force only as a last resort. But the administration has encouraged more aggressive tactics, with Vice President JD Vance asserting that agents like the one who shot Ms. Good are protected by “absolute immunity.” Read more
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There IS gonna be a ‘Wrongful Death ‘ Federal civil suit filed on the Renee Good shooting death….
Lawyers for the family of Renee Good sent a letter to federal officials requesting that officials preserve evidence related to her killing by an ICE agent last week. The letter said that the family anticipates “bringing legal action against the United States of America.”
Lawyers for the Good family also criticized what they described as “defamatory reports” on some unnamed online platforms. They said “there is no record of Renee Good having a criminal or felony history.”
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Local schools in Minneapolis and St. Paul are allowing student’s to stay home and do their studies ‘on-line’ to be away from the protetsts and possible street violence….
The Minnesota Attorney General will begin accepting reports of violence and law brteaking by Federal officals ….
There maybe civil or even criminal actions by state authrities against Federal agents in the future…
Congress is looking into actions to defund or limit ICE’s operations….
A Shift Toward ‘Absolute Immunity’ for ICE
New York Times: “The fatal shooting of Renee Good last week by an ICE agent in Minneapolis — and the quick reaction by Trump administration officials to declare the agent a hero and Ms. Good a villain — has put a new focus on whether federal agents enforcing President Trump’s deportation drive have been properly prepared for confrontations on city streets.”
“The response of Mr. Trump and his top lieutenants to the killing has also underscored how they have embraced what is supposed to be a last resort under the written standards: using lethal force in self-defense.”
“Rather than encourage agents to de-escalate combustible encounters, as the agency guidelines emphasize, Mr. Trump and his lieutenants have provided tacit approval for more aggressive tactics.”
ICE IS increasing getting on video ….
I CAN smell a LOT of civil suits coming in Minnesota….
Even Joe Rogan Is Asking: “Are We Really Going to Be the Gestapo?”
Lyndon Johnson famously said,”If I’ve lost Cronkite I’ve lost middle America”, referring to famous CBS news anchor who turned against the Vietnam War.
Perhaps Trump will mourn” If I’ve lost Rogan I’ve lost redneck America.”
‘And that’s the way it is…..’
The Prudential…..
Now, Trump has to ask “if I’ve lost Bari Weiss, Tony Doukopl, Brett Baier and Shannon Bream…..”