Vice President JD Vance on Thursday said the Insurrection Act wouldn’t be needed “right now” in Minneapolis after meeting with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in the city, which has emerged as a national focal point in the clash over the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
The comment seemed to echo a similar retreat by President Donald Trump, who threatened to invoke the rarely used federal law to quell persistent protests against federal agents in Minneapolis before telling reporters a week ago that there wasn’t a reason to invoke the act at the moment.
Vance also responded to reporting that federal authorities are asserting sweeping power to forcibly enter people’s homes without a judge’s warrant.
“We’re never going to enter somebody’s house without some kind of warrant, unless of course somebody is firing at an officer and they have to protect themselves,” he said.
An ICE memo obtained by the AP authorizes ICE officers to use force to enter a residence based solely on a more narrow administrative warrant to arrest someone with a final order of removal.
Other news we’re following:
3 people involved in Minnesota church protest are arrested: Prominent civil rights attorney Nekima Valdez Levy Armstrong and at least two other people have been arrested, Trump administration officials said Thursday. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Levy Armstrong faces a charge under a statute that bars threatening or intimidating someone exercising a right. Officials said a second person is charged under a law which prohibits physically obstructing or using the threat of force to intimidate or interfere with a person seeking reproductive health services or seeking to participate in a service at a house of worship.Trump rolls out his Board of Peace at Davos: Trump inaugurated his “Board of Peace” to lead efforts at maintaining a ceasefire in Israel’s war with Hamas, insisting that “everyone wants to be a part” of the body that he says could eventually rival the United Nations — despite many U.S. allies opting not to participate. Jack Smith defends Trump investigation before Congress: The former Justice Department special counsel insisted at a congressional hearing Thursday that he acted without regard to politics and had no second thoughts about the criminal charges he brought against Trump for conspiring to overturn the 2020 presidential election and hoarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate after he left the White House. The hearing comes amid the Trump administration’s retribution campaign against investigators who scrutinized the president.