Trump threatens to use Insurrection Act as anti-ICE protests flare following another shooting in Minneapolis
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What we know so far
• Insurrection Act: President Donald Trump warned he might invoke the centuries-old law to deploy US troops to Minnesota as state and federal officials clash over tactics used by immigration agents.
• Another shooting: Law enforcement and demonstrators clashed last night near where a federal agent shot and injured a man after he allegedly assaulted the agent. During the struggle, DHS said two people came out of a nearby apartment and attacked the officer with a snow shovel and a broom handle. After the suspect got loose and joined the attack, the officer fired “defensive shots,” DHS said, striking the man in the leg.
• High tensions: A CNN crew was hit with pepper balls after a kind of projectile was thrown at federal agents at an anti-ICE protest outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building. The FBI is offering up to $100,000 for information after several agency vehicles were vandalized last night.
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Demonstrators were confronting a large group of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building when an object was thrown at officials.
“Just moments ago, we saw agents coming out of this building in formation and tried to clear protesters off of the street,” CNN correspondent Julia Vargas Jones told Jake Tapper this evening.
“Soon after, some kind of projectile — looked to me like a water bottle — was thrown at these agents,” Jones said. “And then all of us, including our crew here, our CNN crew, got hit with some projectiles with pepper spray.”
Arrests were recently made outside the federal building where anti-ICE protests have been happening daily, US Customs and Border Protection Commander Gregory Bovino told Fox News this afternoon.
CNN has reached out to authorities for more information.
Federal agents pulled over two vans of students and staff on their way to school in St. Paul, Minnesota, in separate incidents this week, a school district spokesperson said.
The incidents happened on Monday and Wednesday, Erica Wacker, a spokesperson for St. Paul Public Schools, said in a statement to CNN.
The district said “staff followed the district’s protocols, and both vans were able to continue to school without further disruption.”
Wacker did not elaborate when asked what those protocols are. The vehicles were “contract vans” that had the van company’s name on them, according to the spokesperson.
Wacker said staff members in the vans were able to keep everyone “calm and safe.”
Starting next Thursday, students “who do not feel comfortable coming to school” can participate in virtual learning, Saint Paul Public Schools said in a Facebook post. After the holiday Monday, there will be no school next Tuesday or Wednesday to give teachers time to prepare, the post said.
In another school district: Minneapolis Public Schools is also offering online learning through February 12, according to its website. The district said more information was shared directly with families.
This post has been updated with information about virtual learning at Minneapolis Public Schools.
