‘This Is a Dangerous, Dangerous Moment’: AOC Warns Trump, Noem Laying Groundwork for Insurrection Act
“Mayor Frey is executing on the municipal laws passed by duly elected officials, by the people of Minneapolis,” said Ocasio-Cortez. “That is what it means to live in a democracy.”
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) talks with reporters outside the US Capitol after the last vote of the week on January 9, 2026.
(Photo by Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)
Julia Conley
Jan 25, 2026
COMMON DREAMS
US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Sunday that President Donald Trump has “considered” invoking the Insurrection Act a day after Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez warned that Border Patrol agents’ killing of Alex Pretti had plunged the US into a “dangerous, dangerous moment” in which the White House appeared to be “laying the groundwork” to use the law to deploy the US military for domestic law enforcement.
Noem and other top White House officials, said Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), have been suggesting that leaders like Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz—both Democrats who have demanded federal agents leave the city and state—are “breaking the law” by following local ordinances that protect immigrants and citizens from immigration enforcement.
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Noem has claimed that the two leaders are “'inciting,’ that their resistance and difference from this administration, that their political difference in policy from this administration—she is equating disagreement with incitement,” the congresswoman told CNN Saturday.
She suggested the narrative appears aimed at convincing Americans that actions taken by local and state leaders could result in Trump invoking the Insurrection Act and sending the US military into cities, if he doesn’t agree with the leaders’ policies.
Like Trump and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt have in recent days, Noem on Saturday accused the mayor and governor of “encouraging” violence against “our citizens and our law enforcement officers.”
“The Minnesota governor and the Minneapolis mayor need to take a long, hard look in the mirror,” Noem said. “They need to evaluate their rhetoric, their conversations, and their encouragement of such violence.”
She added that Walz “encouraged residents and citizens and violent rioters to resist.”
Over a week ago, Leavitt also accused Walz of “inciting the harassment” of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers and said the governor should “pick up the phone and say that he will cooperate with the president and federal government in making Minnesota safer.”
Leavitt held up a photo of people she claimed were undocumented immigrants who had come into the country under the Biden administration and committed violent crimes, but analyses by the libertarian Cato Institute has shown nearly three-quarters of people booked into ICE detention in recent months had no criminal convictions.
The press secretary also accused Democratic governors and mayors of holding state and local law enforcement “hostage” with ordinances barring them from cooperating with ICE.
On CNN, Ocasio-Cortez said that while framing their attacks as though they are targeting Frey and Walz, Noem and Leavitt have actually been “taking issue with the people of Minneapolis and the people of Minnesota, who have duly elected their own elected officials to enact their will. They may not like it, but that is what the people of Minnesota and the people of Minneapolis want. They want people’s civil liberties and civil rights protected.”
“Mayor Frey is executing on the municipal laws passed by duly elected officials, by the people of Minneapolis,” said Ocasio-Cortez. “That is what it means to live in a democracy, and that is precisely what they are trying to threaten and undermine in this moment.”
On Fox News Sunday, Noem said that the question of whether to invoke the Insurrection Act, which would allow Trump to deploy the US military to American cities for domestic law enforcement purposes, is “up to the president” before repeating claims that Pretti was to blame for his own death.
The killing was caught on video by witnesses who saw him holding a cellphone as he tried to help a woman who’d been pushed to the ground by an agent, being pepper-sprayed, and then being thrown to the ground and surrounded by several officers, at least one of whom shot him 10 times after another agent had taken his legal firearm away.
Noem claimed, as she and other Trump officials did immediately after Pretti was killed, that he was “confronting” the officers and “impeding” their operations—assertions that are directly contradicted by videos of the incident.
“Mayor Frey is executing on the municipal laws passed by duly elected officials, by the people of Minneapolis,” said Ocasio-Cortez. “That is what it means to live in a democracy.”
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) talks with reporters outside the US Capitol after the last vote of the week on January 9, 2026.
(Photo by Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)
Julia Conley
Jan 25, 2026
COMMON DREAMS
US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Sunday that President Donald Trump has “considered” invoking the Insurrection Act a day after Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez warned that Border Patrol agents’ killing of Alex Pretti had plunged the US into a “dangerous, dangerous moment” in which the White House appeared to be “laying the groundwork” to use the law to deploy the US military for domestic law enforcement.
Noem and other top White House officials, said Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), have been suggesting that leaders like Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz—both Democrats who have demanded federal agents leave the city and state—are “breaking the law” by following local ordinances that protect immigrants and citizens from immigration enforcement.
‘Unnecessary, Irresponsible, and Dangerous’: ACLU Slams Trump’s Insurrection Act Threat
‘None of This Is Legal... Trump Should Be Impeached’: Will Congress Act Against Trump Lawlessness?
Noem has claimed that the two leaders are “'inciting,’ that their resistance and difference from this administration, that their political difference in policy from this administration—she is equating disagreement with incitement,” the congresswoman told CNN Saturday.
She suggested the narrative appears aimed at convincing Americans that actions taken by local and state leaders could result in Trump invoking the Insurrection Act and sending the US military into cities, if he doesn’t agree with the leaders’ policies.
Like Trump and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt have in recent days, Noem on Saturday accused the mayor and governor of “encouraging” violence against “our citizens and our law enforcement officers.”
“The Minnesota governor and the Minneapolis mayor need to take a long, hard look in the mirror,” Noem said. “They need to evaluate their rhetoric, their conversations, and their encouragement of such violence.”
She added that Walz “encouraged residents and citizens and violent rioters to resist.”
Over a week ago, Leavitt also accused Walz of “inciting the harassment” of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers and said the governor should “pick up the phone and say that he will cooperate with the president and federal government in making Minnesota safer.”
Leavitt held up a photo of people she claimed were undocumented immigrants who had come into the country under the Biden administration and committed violent crimes, but analyses by the libertarian Cato Institute has shown nearly three-quarters of people booked into ICE detention in recent months had no criminal convictions.
The press secretary also accused Democratic governors and mayors of holding state and local law enforcement “hostage” with ordinances barring them from cooperating with ICE.
On CNN, Ocasio-Cortez said that while framing their attacks as though they are targeting Frey and Walz, Noem and Leavitt have actually been “taking issue with the people of Minneapolis and the people of Minnesota, who have duly elected their own elected officials to enact their will. They may not like it, but that is what the people of Minnesota and the people of Minneapolis want. They want people’s civil liberties and civil rights protected.”
“Mayor Frey is executing on the municipal laws passed by duly elected officials, by the people of Minneapolis,” said Ocasio-Cortez. “That is what it means to live in a democracy, and that is precisely what they are trying to threaten and undermine in this moment.”
On Fox News Sunday, Noem said that the question of whether to invoke the Insurrection Act, which would allow Trump to deploy the US military to American cities for domestic law enforcement purposes, is “up to the president” before repeating claims that Pretti was to blame for his own death.
The killing was caught on video by witnesses who saw him holding a cellphone as he tried to help a woman who’d been pushed to the ground by an agent, being pepper-sprayed, and then being thrown to the ground and surrounded by several officers, at least one of whom shot him 10 times after another agent had taken his legal firearm away.
Noem claimed, as she and other Trump officials did immediately after Pretti was killed, that he was “confronting” the officers and “impeding” their operations—assertions that are directly contradicted by videos of the incident.
Ocasio-Cortez said on CNN that following the fatal shooting, the administration has been “asking the American people to not believe their eyes, to not believe their ears, and to not believe what they are seeing right before them... They are asking you to instead hand over your belief to anything they say.”
He’s coming after all of us.
Robert Reich
January 24, 2026
People demonstrate after federal agents fatally shot a man in Minneapolis. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
I don’t have all the details yet but it appears that Trump’s goons have murdered another American in Minneapolis.
This is the third shooting involving federal agents in the city this month, including the murder of Renee Good, 37, on Jan. 7.
The person who was killed was Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old man, an American citizen who lived in Minneapolis.
At least 10 shots appear to have been fired within five seconds. The video appears to show a group of masked agents mobbing someone, pushing him to the ground, then shooting him multiple times, even as he lies motionless.
The Department of Homeland Security says he threatened agents with a gun, but footage shows the man was holding a phone in his hand, not a gun, when federal agents took him to the ground and shot him.
The people of Minneapolis, who braved sub-zero weather yesterday to protest Trump’s army of occupation, are not deterred.
Dozens of protesters at the site of today’s murder blew whistles and demanded that police arrest the federal agents. As rapid response networks immediately sent text messages about the killing to various neighborhood and immigrant network Signal chats, other protesters made their way to the scene.
Trump’s goons used tear gas and flash bangs against the crowd. As protesters began running away, ICE agents pursued them.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz called the incident “sickening” and said Trump “must end this operation,” adding that “Minnesota has had it.”
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said he saw a video of the shooting.
“How many more residents, how many more Americans, need to die or get badly hurt for this operation to end?” he asked, adding that “a great American city is being invaded by its own federal government.”
There are now 3,000 ICE and Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis, a city whose own police force numbers 600.
I expect Trump will use today’s protests to invoke the Insurrection Act, and send active military troops there.
But almost everyone in America is now aware of the brutality of Trump’s goons.
It’s becoming harder for Americans to tell themselves that Trump is only going after “hard-core criminals.” Or even “illegal immigrants.” Or even Latinos. Or Black people. Or communists or “radical left extremists.”
He’s coming after all of us.
He’s coming after all of us who oppose his tyranny and brutality. All of us who defy his dictatorship. All of us who challenge his out-of-control, murderous goons.
All across America, we must rise up against this oppression as peacefully but as definitively as we possibly can.
Robert Reich is an emeritus professor of public policy at Berkeley and former secretary of labor. His writings can be found at https://robertreich.substack.com/.
His new memoir, Coming Up Short, can be found wherever you buy books. You can also support local bookstores nationally by ordering the book at bookshop.org
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