Trump’s Threat to Invoke Insurrection Act Deepens Rift With Democratic Cities

Donald Trump’s threat to invoke a centuries-old federal law to deploy U.S. troops in American cities has escalated tensions between the president and Democratic-led municipalities, as hundreds of National Guard troops from Texas prepared on Tuesday to patrol the streets of Chicago.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Trump said he was considering using the Insurrection Act, a rarely invoked statute dating back more than 200 years, to override any court orders or objections from state and local officials blocking his plans to send Guard troops into cities.

“We have the Insurrection Act for a reason,” Trump said. “If people are being killed and the courts, or governors, or mayors try to stop us, of course I’d do it.”

The law gives the president authority to deploy the military to quell unrest in extraordinary circumstances — typically only at a governor’s request. It was last used by President George H.W. Bush during the 1992 Los Angeles riots.

Invoking it now would mark a dramatic expansion of presidential power and a major step in Trump’s ongoing push to deploy federal troops on the streets of Democratic-controlled cities. In a speech to top military commanders last week, Trump even suggested using American cities as “training grounds” for armed forces.

After earlier troop deployments to Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., Trump has now ordered National Guard units to Chicago and Portland, Oregon—both moves made over the objections of Democratic mayors and governors, who say the president’s warnings of “chaos and violence” distort the reality on the ground.

Local officials report that protests against Trump’s immigration policies in Chicago and Portland have remained largely peaceful, with violent crime in both cities declining sharply this year. However, tensions have flared between demonstrators and federal agents, who have used tear gas and other crowd-control measures as troops arrive.

Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, a Democrat, accused Trump of “deliberately trying to provoke violence” by sending immigration agents and Guard troops into Chicago, saying the president could use any ensuing disorder to justify further militarization.

“Donald Trump is using our soldiers as political props in his illegal attempt to militarize America’s cities,” Pritzker told reporters Monday.

Both the state of Illinois and the city of Chicago filed suit against the Trump administration on Monday, seeking to block orders federalizing 300 Illinois Guard troops and deploying 400 from Texas to Chicago. During the court hearing, Justice Department lawyers told a federal judge that hundreds of Texas Guard troops were already en route to Illinois.

U.S. District Judge April Perry allowed the deployment to proceed for now but ordered the federal government to file a formal response by Wednesday. Meanwhile, on Sunday, a federal judge in Oregon temporarily barred the administration from sending any National Guard soldiers to police Portland.

National Guard troops, typically under the command of their respective state governors, are often deployed in response to natural disasters. Under the Posse Comitatus Act, the U.S. military is generally prohibited from engaging in domestic law enforcement—but the Insurrection Act serves as a key exception, giving presidents sweeping powers in times of internal unrest.