Recent discussions reveal a growing focus on invoking a rarely used 19th-century law to address what President Donald Trump sees as rampant crime and disorder.
As reported by NBC News, Trump officials are weighing the Insurrection Act to deploy U.S. troops for law enforcement in cities like Portland, Chicago, and Los Angeles—an escalation driven by clashes over federal agents and rising unrest.
Talk of this drastic measure has ebbed and flowed since Trump returned to office in January. Five sources, including a senior administration official, confirm that the debate has moved from theoretical to practical, with legal defenses and specific scenarios now under review.
Trump’s push to deploy National Guard troops in major cities has already faced judicial pushback. A federal judge in Oregon on Sunday halted the deployment of guard members to Portland, prompting Trump to publicly float the idea of invoking the Insurrection Act if necessary.
The president’s own words reveal his frustration with local resistance. “If people were being killed and courts were holding us up or governors or mayors were holding us up, sure, I’d do that,” Trump said, though he noted it hasn’t yet been required.
That hesitation might be wise, given recent legal setbacks. Last month, a federal judge ruled that deploying active-duty troops to Los Angeles violated the Posse Comitatus Act, a law barring military involvement in civilian policing, which has reignited internal debates over the Insurrection Act’s viability.
Within the administration, consensus leans toward exhausting all other options before taking this historic step. A source close to the White House described the approach as climbing “an escalatory ladder,” suggesting a cautious but deliberate buildup to potential action.
Yet key figures like deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller are driving the conversation forward. Miller, a longtime advocate for invoking the act, has framed opposition to federal immigration enforcement as nothing short of rebellion, a stance that fuels the administration’s hardline posture.
His rhetoric is pointed and unyielding. “They’re saying they’re going to carry out insurrection against the federal government by using force, obstructive force, to keep ICE officers from going out and conducting arrests,” Miller told reporters on Monday, painting local resistance as a direct assault on national sovereignty.
The Insurrection Act, last invoked during the 1992 Los Angeles riots at a governor’s request, grants broad presidential discretion in times of rebellion or lawlessness. Past uses by presidents like Eisenhower and Kennedy focused on protecting civil rights, a far cry from the current context of crime and immigration enforcement.
Opposition from state leaders in Oregon and Illinois adds another layer of friction. With no active riots or defiance of court orders in these states, the justification for military intervention appears thin to critics who see this as federal overreach.
White House officials anticipate legal challenges that could reach the Supreme Court if the act is invoked. Some within the administration worry that a loss there could tarnish Trump’s string of judicial wins, a concern that has temporarily cooled the push for immediate action.
Trump’s regret over not invoking the act during the 2020 protests following George Floyd’s killing in Minneapolis shapes his current calculus. A senior official noted that the president views this decision through the lens of past restraint, hinting at a readiness to act if conditions worsen.
Concerns linger among some officials about the optics and reality of U.S. troops confronting American citizens. Such a scenario risks deepening national divides, a consequence even the most hawkish advisors must weigh against the goal of restoring order.
In the end, the administration’s path forward hinges on whether local authorities can or will protect federal agents. With Trump and his team framing resistance as “criminal insurrection,” the stage is set for a showdown that could redefine the boundaries of federal power in our cities.
