The Federal Occupation of Minneapolis: Why Minnesota Can't Stop It
Thousand of masked federal officers with uncertain authority are rampaging through the region, assaulting protesters and innocent people, abusing constitutional safeguards, staking out daycares and schools, snatching people off the streets in unmarked vans based on their skin color or accent, and recklessly provoking violent confrontations with civilians – all against the loud, repeatedly expressed wishes of local and state officials.
Minnesota's government has few options that wouldn't trigger something like civil war. Despite repeated pleas from Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey and governor Tim Walz to President Donald Trump to call back his operation, the federal occupation shows no signs of ending.
The reason lies in the fundamental principles of American federalism. A key part of this principle is that a state cannot really resist federal authority or kick out federal law enforcement officials. This is because the federal government is meant to be the "protector" of last resort if local and state officials fail to uphold the rights of ordinary citizens.
President Trump's actions, however, threaten the very union of the United States. By deploying immigration officers and border security agents from the DHS, Trump is changing the nature and tenor of his federal force. These agents are not trained to normal federal law enforcement standards and are meant to operate with severely limited authority to enforce immigration matters.
Trump has attempted to use troops in similar crackdowns over the last year and been stymied by federal courts. If he were to invoke the Insurrection Act, it could give him cover to circumvent restrictions on deploying troops without state approval.
The residents of Minneapolis are facing a full weight of Trump's masked secret police, but the spreading and growing resistance to the Trump administration shows that protesters nationwide are courageous in the face of federal assault.
Thousand of masked federal officers with uncertain authority are rampaging through the region, assaulting protesters and innocent people, abusing constitutional safeguards, staking out daycares and schools, snatching people off the streets in unmarked vans based on their skin color or accent, and recklessly provoking violent confrontations with civilians – all against the loud, repeatedly expressed wishes of local and state officials.
Minnesota's government has few options that wouldn't trigger something like civil war. Despite repeated pleas from Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey and governor Tim Walz to President Donald Trump to call back his operation, the federal occupation shows no signs of ending.
The reason lies in the fundamental principles of American federalism. A key part of this principle is that a state cannot really resist federal authority or kick out federal law enforcement officials. This is because the federal government is meant to be the "protector" of last resort if local and state officials fail to uphold the rights of ordinary citizens.
President Trump's actions, however, threaten the very union of the United States. By deploying immigration officers and border security agents from the DHS, Trump is changing the nature and tenor of his federal force. These agents are not trained to normal federal law enforcement standards and are meant to operate with severely limited authority to enforce immigration matters.
Trump has attempted to use troops in similar crackdowns over the last year and been stymied by federal courts. If he were to invoke the Insurrection Act, it could give him cover to circumvent restrictions on deploying troops without state approval.
The residents of Minneapolis are facing a full weight of Trump's masked secret police, but the spreading and growing resistance to the Trump administration shows that protesters nationwide are courageous in the face of federal assault.
like what r these masked ppl doing?? theyre just waltzing around like they own the place & terrorizing innocent ppl!! i feel so bad for those daycare stints though, that's straight up horrible 
we need to get these ppl outta there ASAP! i dont think trump has any idea how this is gonna play out tho 
he's just makin moves without thinkin about the consequences. & whats with all these unmarked vans?? that's like somethin out of a movie or somethin 
anyway, it sounds like the ppl are fightin back & i LOVE IT 
. The image of thousands of masked federal officers roaming around is super scary 
. They're basically taking over and using their power to intimidate people, which isn't cool at all 
. I mean, I get that there's a lot of tension and protests going on but I don't think the Trump administration needs to escalate things like this 
. The fact that innocent people are getting picked up by unmarked vans is just wrong 
. And what really worries me is that it seems like they're not even following normal federal law enforcement procedures 
. It's like they're taking matters into their own hands and disregarding everyone else's rights 
. They're standing up for what they believe in and facing the consequences, which shows a lot of courage 
.
I'm thinking...
... this is getting out of control 
. The fact that local officials can't even resist federal authority is really messed up 
and dont even get me started on trump's secret police - masked agents with zero training and a license to roam free everywhere... this is total overreach 
.
where our own government becomes the enemy 
and the president thinks he can just do whatever he wants without no consequences 
newsflash president you cant just use troops to crack down on ppl for exercising their rights 
and i just cant believe our government would do this to its own citizens 
or dragged away by secret cops 
i guess times sure have changed 
.
. It's like they're running a military operation under the guise of "occupation". I mean, who gives the power to send in masked agents to tackle protests and snatched people off the streets? 
. Newsflash, dude: this is not a game of "Operation Power Ranger". The fact that the state officials are at a loss for how to handle it is even more worrying 
. Meanwhile, I'm over here watching videos of police brutality and wondering if we're really living in a democracy anymore 
they r violatin all sorts of constitutional rights & its like totally unacceptable. i get that states cant resist fed authority but come on, this is gettin crazy! 
