US President Donald Trump has threatened to use the rarely used Insurrection Act to stop the unrest in federal immigration enforcement operations in Minneapolis.
He threatened to send in troops after a night of protests and vandalism in the Minnesota city after an agent shot a man in the leg.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said an officer opened fire after three Venezuelan nationals attacked him with a shovel and a broom handle.
Tensions have been high in Minneapolis since an immigration agent fatally shot Renee Nicole Good, 37, last week, sparking protests across the country.
The Insurrection Act is a 19th Century law that allows active-duty military personnel to be deployed for law enforcement duties within the US.
Trump has previously said he could use the 1807 law elsewhere without doing so.
The president posted on Truth Social that he will use the law if Minnesota officials fail to stop “professional agitators and insurrectionists”.
DHS said Wednesday’s shooting occurred after a car chase involving a Venezuelan national named Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, who was previously convicted of driving without a license.
The agency’s statement said that after the chase, Sosa-Celis got out of his car and fought with the federal agent.
Two other illegal immigrants from Venezuela, Alfredo Alejandro Ajorna and Gabriel Alejandro Hernandez-Ledezma, came out of a nearby apartment, according to the agency.
The three attacked the law enforcement officer with a snow shovel and broom handle, DHS said, before the agent opened fire, hitting Sosa-Celis in the leg.
The agent was taken to the hospital. Sosa-Celis was also taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries. The three Venezuelans were arrested.
“What we saw last night in Minneapolis was an attempt to kill federal law enforcement,” said DHS Secretary Kristi Noem.
He said the officer was “ambushed and attacked” by the men and fired a defensive shot.
On Wednesday night, clashes broke out between protesters and law enforcement in the Hawthorne area of Minneapolis, near the scene of the shooting.
City police chief Brian O’Hara said his officers were hit by fireworks, ice and snowballs.
Several vehicles belonging to the federal government were damaged in the riot, and property was stolen from inside the vehicles, according to the FBI.
The FBI said on Thursday it was offering a reward of up to $100,000 for information leading to “the recovery of stolen government property and/or the arrest of individuals responsible for the destruction and theft of government property”.
About 3,000 federal officers have been deployed to Minnesota in recent weeks.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, who asked ICE to leave the city, said on X on Wednesday: “Regardless of the cause of this incident, the situation we are seeing in our city is unsustainable.”
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, a Democrat, made a direct appeal to the president on Thursday posting X: “Let’s lower the temperature.”
Walz, who once called ICE a “modern-day Gestapo”, told Minnesotans: “We cannot fan the flames of chaos.”
The Democratic governor, who is running for US vice-president alongside Kamala Harris in the 2024 election, said earlier this month that he would end his bid for re-election.
The move comes after a fraud scandal involving state welfare programs.
Trump said Operation Metro Surge will continue in Minnesota after a federal judge on Wednesday denied Minnesota prosecutors a temporary restraining order against US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Tensions over immigration enforcement have been running high in the city since the Jan. 7 fatal shooting of 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good by an ICE agent.
The Trump administration says the ICE agent acted in self-defense, while local officials argue the woman is not in danger.
Videos of the incident show ICE agents approaching a car, which was in the middle of the road.
As Good tried to drive away, one of them in front of the car pointed his gun at the driver and fired three shots. The FBI is investigating the incident.
An online fundraiser set up for Good’s widow and family has raised more than $1.4m. Another online fundraiser for Jonathan Ross, the ICE agent at the center of the deadly confrontation, raised $740,000.