Tracy Mumford

Today's Friday, January 16th.

Here's what we're covering.

President Trump's social media post threatening to invoke the Insurrection Act in response to protests in Minnesota has set off a flurry of questions of can he, will he, and what would it mean?

The act gives the president broad authority under some conditions to send troops into U.S.

cities.

President Trump has brought it up multiple times this term, including just last week in the Oval Office in an interview with Times reporters.

This time, the White House is framing it as a warning to Democrats, who the administration has accused of egging on the protests.

The Insurrection Act hasn't been invoked by a U.S.

president since 1992, when troops were deployed in L.A.

in response to riots that broke out after several white police officers were acquitted in the beating of an unarmed Black man, Rodney King.

In the last week, since an ICE agent fatally shot Renee Good, thousands of people have been out in the streets in Minneapolis, protesting the killing and the immigration crackdown agents are carrying out there.

At times, protesters have clashed with federal agents.

There are now about 3,000 of them deployed there.

Local and state officials have said that deployment is creating an unsafe situation, with agents shoving people, smashing car windows, and pulling drivers out of their vehicles.

Clear.

When asked about the situation and Trump's threat to use the Insurrection Act, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said they had been talking about it, but she said it would be up to Trump to decide what's next.

Now, two other developments on the administration's immigration crackdown.

A federal judge in Boston issued a new rebuke to the administration over its efforts to deport college students who demonstrated against Israel.

Judge William Young, a Reagan appointee, called President Trump an authoritarian and said the administration had violated free speech protections when it tried to deport international students who'd been protesting over the war in Gaza.

The administration said it had the authority to do so under an obscure legal provision, claiming the students were a threat to American foreign policy.