US President Donald Trump has threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act, if necessary, if courts and states defy his administration's attempts to deploy the National Guard in cities where there are protests against the immigration drive.
While addressing the press on Monday, Trump said, "We have an Insurrection Act for a reason." He added, "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. We have to make sure our cities are safe."
What is the US Insurrection Act?
The US Insurrection Act of 1807 empowers the president to send active-duty military to states which are unable to quell an insurrection against the United States or if there is a defiance to federal laws. The US president can deploy troops without the governor’s approval.
However, there are certain conditions to bypass the governor’s approval. For example, if violence prevents the enforcement of federal authority or threatens public order. The law has been invoked 30 times in American history.
Trump's Court battle
Trump threatened to invoke the act after states like Illinois and Oregon approached the court against his attempts to deploy the National Guard to carry out deportation.
On Monday, Illinois and Chicago sued Trump, seeking to block the deployment of federal troops to Democrat-led major cities. Hundreds of troops are in transit from Texas and are heading to Chicago.
The state of Illinois had sued the Trump administration over Defence Chief Pete Hegseth’s orders over the weekend to bring 300 Illinois National Guard members under federal control and then mobilise another 400 Texas National Guard troops for deployment to Chicago.
As Illinois was granted a temporary restraining order, the lawyer representing the US government told the court on Monday that the Texas National Guard troops were already in transit to the state.
US district Judge April Perry allowed the federal troops' deployment to Chicago, while in the case of Illinois, the court set a deadline of Wednesday for the US administration to reply.
Soon after perry’s ruling, Trump said that he might invoke the Insurrection Act.
The president has been arguing to deploy the federal troops to suppress violence in US cities, crack down on crime and support his deportation initiatives. However, most of the areas where Trump wants to deploy the military are Democrat-run cities.
This has sparked fresh concerns. Doubts are being raised whether Trump’s decision to send the military is about controlling law and order or scoring a political point.
Analysts claim that the US president wants to portray the Democrat-ruled states as plagued by violence and lawlessness. They argue that the decision has the potential to create a constitutional crisis in America.
Similar concerns have been echoed by Illinois Governor JB Pritzker. He called Trump’s latest move to federalise 300 of the state’s National Guard troops “unlawful and unconstitutional”. Pritzker even accused Trump of using the military as a ‘political prop’.
Though most of the US presidents have rarely used the 19th-century law, it is to be seen whether Trump proceeds ahead with his move as his administration bolsters deportation plans.
