What May Be Done in Minnesota?

It is well known that the several states cannot be commandeered to carry out federal law.

So however much President Trump and his followers may demand aid from the state of Minnesota in the business of carrying out federal immigration law — which has long been held constitutional from multiple rulings as a federal, not a state, matter — the federal government may not compel such aid. 

Everyone should know this. It is a firmly established principle.

This would mean Governor Tim Walz and the State of Minnesota are under no legal obligation to cooperate with the federal government’s U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in removing criminal aliens (or alien criminals) from within the state’s borders.

But must the state protect the agents as they go about their duties? 

Probably not. Remember that the police are under no obligation to come to the aid of any citizen in any or all moments of crisis. This was firmly established in the District of Columbia District Court of Appeals ruling in Warren v. the District of Columbia. There does not appear to be case law that indicates a duty of states to protect federal agents as if they were body guards, for example.

Federal agents are protected under statutes like 18 U.S.C. § 111, which criminalizes assaulting, resisting, or impeding federal officers in their duties. If citizens (including protesters or rioters) harass agents — through physical obstruction or threats — agents may use reasonable force in response.

This is why U.S. Border Patrol agents (part of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, or CBP) were called in to protect ICE from Minnesota mobs. It was not ICE agents who shot and killed Alex Pretti on January 24, 2026. It was U.S. Border Patrol agents.

Joe Rogan has described the activities of the mobbing “protesters” as a coordinated “color revolution”; his guest Andrew Wilson insists that the mobs are being directed and supported in part by Minnesota state officials. If this proves true, an insurrection may technically be in progress.

And then the legality of federal crackdown in Minneapolis and St. Paul would become quite clear.