Since taking office, President Donald Trump has asserted presidential authority in unusual and heavy-handed ways, including a fierce crackdown on immigration and efforts to reorganize the military to fit his agenda.
Now, Trump may be preparing to call up troops on U.S. soil using an 18th-century law created for times of crisis.
1.
Trump’s southern border ’emergency’ may lead to mobilizing troops
Early in Trump’s current term, he issued an executive order declaring a “national emergency” on the southern U.S. border with Mexico. The declaration came with an order that “within 90 days of the date of this proclamation, the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall submit a joint report to the President about the conditions at the southern border of the United States.” This report is to recommend options for the president, “including whether to invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807,” a move that worries critics of Trump’s heavy-handed and potentially authoritarian moves.
2.
What exactly is The Insurrection Act?
LiveNow from Fox reported that the Insurrection Act was passed in 1790 and amended various times since. The law allows the president to mobilize the military for operations within the United States, which is generally forbidden. The Insurrection Act has been used 40 times in U.S. history. For example, when the Governor of Arkansas mobilized the National Guard to prevent Black students from integrating Little Rock’s Central High School in 1957, President Dwight Eisenhower used the Insurrection Act to send Army troops to escort the Little Rock Nine to school. President Lyndon Johnson used the Act to mobilize troops to quell riots in several cities after the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. The law was most recently used in 1992 under President George H. W. Bush in response to the Los Angeles riots after the acquittal of police in the Rodney King case.
3.
Fears of Trump abusing power
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, despite these past uses, critics worry that Trump might abuse the power of the Insurrection Act. Given his propensity to lie and exaggerate about the immigration crisis, such as the false rumors he helped spread about Haitian immigrants in 2024, Trump might use similar false claims to justify sending troops into American cities. During his first term, he reportedly threatened to use military force against protestors after the murder of George Floyd, Politico reported. Now that Trump has purged top military leaders and replaced them with people loyal to him, there’s concern that troops could be made to carry out illegal and violent orders against American citizens as well as immigrant non-citizens.
Given Trump’s habit of ignoring or scoffing at the law, his pledge to continue his anti-immigration crackdown, and his hostility toward protestors — On Tuesday, Reuters reported on his threat to cut federal funding to colleges that allow what he called “illegal protests” in a social media post — many signs point to an attempt to co-opt the military to achieve his goals. If that happens, the liberties and safety of people across the country could be in danger.
