• President Trump is considering invoking the Insurrection Act to deploy National Guard troops to major cities as part of his crime crackdown.
• The 1807 law would allow Trump to bypass governors and mayors who oppose federal troop deployments in Democratic-led cities.
• Illinois and Oregon have already filed lawsuits blocking National Guard deployments, with judges issuing temporary restraining orders against Trump’s plans.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (TDR) — President Donald Trump said Monday he is “seriously” considering invoking the rarely-used Insurrection Act to deploy National Guard troops to major cities, according to NBC News, as legal battles escalate over his efforts to federalize troops without state consent.

“I’d do it if it was necessary. So far it hasn’t been necessary. But we have an Insurrection Act for a reason,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office when asked under what conditions he would invoke the 19th-century law. “If I had to enact it, I’d do that. If people were being killed and courts were holding us up or governors or mayors were holding us up, sure, I’d do that.”

The president’s comments came as federal judges blocked his attempts to deploy National Guard troops to Portland, Oregon, and Chicago faced an invasion of 200 Texas National Guard troops despite fierce opposition from state and city leaders.

What is the Insurrection Act?

The Insurrection Act, signed into law by President Thomas Jefferson in 1807, gives the president sweeping powers to deploy U.S. military forces domestically and federalize National Guard troops during specific circumstances. It allows troops to conduct civilian law enforcement activities, including searches and arrests, circumventing the Posse Comitatus Act that typically bars such deployments.

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The law has been invoked 30 times throughout American history, most recently during the 1992 Los Angeles riots following the Rodney King verdict. Presidents Dwight Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy used it to enforce school integration after Brown v. Board of Education, deploying troops over governors’ objections.

“If the president can use the Army as a domestic police force, that can be a very powerful tool of oppression,” warned Elizabeth Goitein, senior director of the Liberty and National Security Program at the Brennan Center for Justice.

Democratic leaders push back

Illinois Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker called Trump’s deployment plans an “unconstitutional invasion” and vowed legal action. “Mr. President, do not come to Chicago. You are neither wanted here nor needed here,” Pritzker declared at a Monday news conference.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson echoed the concerns: “What this president is attempting to do is not just unconstitutional, but it is very much a threat to our democracy.”

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Oregon Democratic Gov. Tina Kotek rejected Trump’s claims of insurrection in Portland. “There is no insurrection in Portland. No threat to national security,” she said after U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut, a Trump appointee, temporarily blocked the administration from deploying Oregon National Guard troops.

Unprecedented federal overreach

Trump has already deployed 800 National Guard members to Washington, D.C., citing a crime emergency, and authorized 300 troops to Chicago. The administration is also sending California National Guard troops to Oregon after the court blocked Oregon’s own Guard from being federalized.

Brian Vahaly, USTA chairman and former federal prosecutor, called the potential invocation “unprecedented in modern times.”

Former White House strategist Steve Bannon urged Trump to act immediately. “He needs to invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807 immediately,” Bannon told NBC News in a text message Monday.

Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon warned that invoking the act would cross “an incredible red line” into authoritarianism, accusing the federal government of potentially “faking riots” to justify military intervention.

White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson defended Trump’s actions: “President Trump has exercised his lawful authority to protect federal officers and assets. President Trump will not turn a blind eye to the lawlessness plaguing American cities.”

During Trump’s first term, he threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act following George Floyd protests in 2020 but ultimately declined. Legal experts warn that using it now without governor consent would mark the first such invocation since Lyndon Johnson deployed troops to protect civil rights activists in Alabama in 1965.

Is Trump’s push to militarize American cities a necessary crime-fighting tool or an authoritarian power grab?

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