The US president is considering invoking the statute in response to judges blocking National Guard deployments
US President Donald Trump is exploring all options, including invoking the Insurrection Act, following legal challenges to the deployment of troops in Democrat-run states, Vice President J.D. Vance has said.
Vance’s remarks came as the White House moved to federalize the National Guard for deployment in Oregon and Illinois to support immigration enforcement amid Trump’s crackdown. The administration said the decision was prompted by rising crime in Portland and Chicago, but federal courts have since blocked the out-of-state deployments.
Trump had previously floated the possibility of invoking the Insurrection Act, saying he would consider it “if people were being killed and courts were holding us up.” The law, adopted in 1807, allows a president to deploy military forces on US soil to restore order without congressional approval. “If I had to enact it, I’d do that,” he said.
During an interview on NBC News’ Meet the Press on Sunday, Vance was asked whether the president was serious about invoking the statute. “The president is looking at all his options,” he said. “Right now, he hasn’t felt he needed to.”
He accused the media of fueling violence against the police, calling the attacks on officers unacceptable. “The problem here is not the Insurrection Act or whether we actually invoke it or not. The problem is the fact that the entire media in this country, cheered on by a few far-left lunatics, have made it OK to tee off on American law enforcement,” Vance told the host.
Democrats argue the deployments are unnecessary, citing police data showing declining crime in both states. Vance countered by claiming local officials are not “keeping the statistics properly.”
Protests erupted last week outside Portland’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility, where demonstrators clashed with federal officers during late-night rallies. Smaller solidarity marches were also held in Seattle, San Francisco, and Denver.
The Insurrection Act and its predecessors have been used 30 times in US history since George Washington suppressed the Whiskey Rebellion in 1794. The most recent instance was under George H.W. Bush, during the 1992 Los Angeles riots.
Democrats argue that enacting the law constitutes “abuse of the law and power.”
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