Stephen Miller, White House deputy chief of staff and official MAGA mascot, went full febrile fever dream this weekend — claiming that local and state police in Minneapolis have been ordered to “stand down and surrender” to federal agents amid anti‑ICE protests. And yes, the internet is officially confused and concerned.
Miller’s explosive demand came via social media late Sunday night in response to a post by New York Post columnist Miranda Devine suggesting that “local cops have gone AWOL” amid protests over the shooting death of Renee Nicole Good by ICE agents. Miller replied flatly: “Only federal officers are upholding the law. Local and state police have been ordered to stand down and surrender.”
Sounds dire — until you remember the Constitution still exists.
Under the 10th Amendment, the federal government has zero authority to compel local or state police to stop doing their jobs or “surrender” control to the feds. It’s not just unprecedented; it’s literally impossible under U.S. law unless Minnesota is at war with itself, which it is not.
Legal experts have been quick to note that the only statutory route Trump hinted at — the Insurrection Act of 1807 — allows the president to deploy the military to suppress actual rebellion, not to hijack city police departments. The Supreme Court‑dodging version of American federalism Miller seems to be pitching simply doesn’t exist.
Protests erupted after a federal agent shot and killed Renee Nicole Good, 37, during an ICE operation in Minneapolis. The response from state officials has been to urge peaceful documentation of federal abuses and to challenge the federal response, calling the influx of immigration agents an “occupying force” — language that may explain Miller’s overheated rhetoric, if not justify it.
Miller didn’t stop at the social media claim. On The Charlie Kirk Show last Thursday, he doubled down, saying protesters’ own words make “this clearly an insurgency against the federal government” — a characterization that legal scholars and civil liberties advocates reject as unsupported and inflammatory.
Even some conservative outlets are struggling to square Miller’s comments with reality. Mediaite noted that Miller’s assertion came “shockingly” and contradicted basic principles of American policing and federalism.
Meanwhile, the broader picture is that Trump’s refusal to investigate Good’s killing — and rapid labeling of protesters as “insurrectionists” — has only stoked tensions and made reasonable discourse harder to find. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey has condemned ICE for heavy‑handed tactics, and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has called for calm and documentation of abuses.
What Miller described as a sweeping federal takeover of local law enforcement is legally impossible, politically explosive, and strategically bonkers — even by Trump World standards.
