There Insurrection Act will it be invoked against the demonstrators in Minneapolis, deploying the army in the American city? Donald Trump let the idea float again on Thursday.
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Why invoke this law?
L’Insurrection Actor the Insurrection Actallows the military to be deployed on American territory to carry out acts usually reserved for police officers. If Donald Trump has already sent members of the National Guard to American cities since his return to office – a highly unusual decision in this context – their powers remain limited. With the Insurrection Actused as a state of emergency, the military can directly arrest people, for example. The president has already mentioned the idea of using it, but has not yet done so.
There Insurrection Act is temporary and location-specific. It could not apply at once to the entire United States or to all Democratic cities, experts say. Nor is it martial law; it gives more powers to the military, without suspending the laws in force.
Why now?
Since the death of Renee Nicole Good, shot and killed by an ICE agent in Minneapolis last week, tensions have been high. If the governor of Minnesota like the mayor of Minneapolis – both of whom oppose ICE operations in the territory – called on demonstrators to protest peacefully, clashes took place. On Wednesday, hundreds of people gathered to denounce the gunshot wound of a man arrested by ICE. Protesters used fireworks against the officers, who fired tear gas.
PHOTO ABBIE PARR, ASSOCIATED PRESS
A woman came to pay her respects at the improvised memorial dedicated to Renee Nicole Good, in Minneapolis, on Wednesday
Several thousand ICE agents have been deployed to Minnesota since the start of the year in a vast operation aimed at arresting irregular migrants. Minneapolis is considered a sanctuary, which basically means that local law enforcement does not cooperate with federal authorities on immigration-related offenses.
How would using this law be unusual?
“We are talking about something akin to a military occupation inside a city,” underlines Brenner Fissel, professor of law at Villanova University, in Pennsylvania. “This law was designed for cases where organized groups rebel against government authority,” he recalls. It’s designed for something very serious. »
There Insurrection Act was last used in 1992, during major riots in Los Angeles that left more than 50 people dead. This was after the acquittal of four white police officers accused of beating a black motorist, Rodney King. The governor of California had requested federal assistance, as local forces were unable to control the situation.
It was also invoked during the period of the struggle for civil rights, to protect African-Americans in states where the authorities opposed desegregation, for example.
What do specialists fear?
” There Insurrection Act allows members of the US military to be used for ordinary law enforcement missions, but that is not what they were trained for; they are trained to fight against an enemy army,” says Jill Hasday, a law professor at the University of Minnesota. She gives the example of police officers assisted by Marines, called to a case of domestic violence in a residence during the Los Angeles riots in 1992. When the police officer asked the soldier to “cover” him – or to intervene if necessary, in his language – the Marine opened fire. As he would have done in a theater of war if he had been called upon to “cover” for a comrade.
Law professor Charlton Copeland of the University of Miami also worries that certain rights will be violated in Minneapolis if the law is invoked. “I tend to think that the administration could interpret its prerogatives too broadly and abuse its power,” he said.
Could its use be contested?
Yes, by trying to demonstrate that the situation is under control. “The Minnesota government could go to court and say that the conditions to invoke the law are not met,” says Mme Hasday. I’m in Minnesota right now, and I can tell you that civilian law enforcement is operating normally, the courts remain open. There are of course many protests around ICE enforcement, but civil society is functional. »
PHOTO LEAH MILLIS, REUTERS
Demonstrators mobilized in a Minneapolis street invaded by tear gas, Wednesday
The president, however, has great latitude, recalls Mr. Fissel. The law of 1807 does not provide a definition of an “insurrection”. “This case would be a first for the courts,” he said. They would probably pull out the dictionaries to see the definitions from back then. »
And does ICE have the power to arrest citizens on its own?
Immigration police can arrest U.S. citizens in limited circumstances only, if they interfere with an ICE response, for example, or for offenses committed on the grounds of a federal building.
Filming an intervention without obstructing it is not illegal. “Officers have no right to try to stop people from filming them, to snatch phones out of people’s hands; “I’ve spent a lot of time watching videos over the last few days and it’s concerning,” says Rachel Moran, who teaches in Minneapolis’s “sister city” of St. Paul at the University of St. Thomas.
The law professor, specialist in law enforcement, emphasizes that the Minneapolis police officers are in a complicated position. They can hardly intervene against federal agents, even if residents denounce actions. And the police department doesn’t want to be seen by an angry public as an ally of ICE, nearly six years after the murder of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers. “Relations with many residents are still fragile, so it’s definitely an element that the department must take into account in all of this,” said M.me Moran.
