The Insurrection Law Being Considered by Trump—What to Know

Since his 2024 campaign to reclaim the White House, President Donald Trump has repeatedly raised the prospect of invoking a little-known insurrection law that dates back to the earliest days of the American Republic.

That law, the Insurrection Act of 1807, outlines circumstances in which the president may deploy National Guard or military forces domestically, providing some of the only exceptions to the limits the law otherwise places on such actions.

As he seeks to carry out a mass deportation operation that represents one of the signature promises of his 2024 presidential campaign, Trump has made clear that he’s still considering using the law to quell opposition that has emerged in some major cities.

The United States has long sought to limit the domestic use of the military through legislation such as the Posse Comitatus Act, and judges could move to block an effort to invoke the law.

Here’s what to know.

ICE Agents, Protesters Clash

In several major U.S. cities—including Los Angeles, Chicago, and elsewhere—Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have faced opposition from some locals that has included violent incidents.

In one incident, an ICE facility in Dallas was targeted by a sniper in an attack in which two detainees were killed and one was injured. The shooter, who committed suicide, wrote “Anti-ICE” on one of the bullet shells.

Many ICE agents have taken to wearing masks while carrying out their duties to protect their identities, a practice that higher-ups have permitted.

Trump has already used existing authority to deploy the National Guard to Los Angeles, where they have been restricted to protecting federal personnel and property. The law allows such limited uses of the federal militia without requiring a full-scale insurrection.

Trump also deployed the National Guard to the District of Columbia under federal authority in the Home Rule Act.

However, Trump’s efforts to deploy guardsmen to Chicago and Portland, Oregon, are currently on hold after federal judges in the regions temporarily blocked the administration’s deployments.

The Insurrection Act

The law currently being considered by the administration has its roots in 1792 legislation that allowed the federal government to call up state militias “to execute the laws of the Union, suppress insurrections, and repel invasions.”

The 1807 Insurrection Act expanded the original legislation, adding additional powers for the president, including the ability to deploy active duty federal troops without the request or support of state government actors under limited circumstances.

It provides some of the only exceptions to the Posse Comitatus Act, an 1878 law that generally forbids the use of the military against U.S. citizens.

Those exceptions include suppressing insurrections, enforcing federal authority, and protecting civil rights when state authorities fail to act.

The president is authorized, upon the request of a state legislature or governor, to call into service the militia of other states to assist in suppressing an insurrection.

The president is required to order insurgents to “disperse and retire” peaceably when activating any of these provisions.

The last time that the law was invoked was in 1992 under the first Bush administration, in the midst of deadly riots in Los Angeles following a jury acquittal of Los Angeles Police Department officers after the arrest and beating of Rodney King.

Decades before, the Insurrection Act was invoked in the 1960s in response to state resistance to federal desegregation efforts during the Civil Rights movement.

Can Trump Invoke the Act?

Federal law allows the president to call guardsmen into service even in cases in which the Insurrection Act has not been invoked.

Under Title 10 U.S. Code Section 12406, the president is permitted to order guardsmen into service—with or without the support of a state governor—in the event of “a rebellion or danger of a rebellion against the authority of the government of the United States,” alongside additional circumstances such as invasion.

The law gives the president broad authority to decide when its use is necessary.

In the 1827 case Martin v. Mott, the Supreme Court ruled that the authority to decide whether an emergency justifies deploying a militia under the Insurrection Act—in this case, the National Guard—“belongs exclusively to the president,” and “his decision is conclusive upon all other persons.”

Trump’s deployments in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Portland, Oregon—which are being challenged—were done under this law.

Trump ‘Looking at All His Options’: Vance

On Oct. 12, Vice President JD Vance made clear that the possibility of invoking the Insurrection Act was still on the table.

“The president is looking at all his options,“ Vance told NBC News, noting that the White House is “talking about this because crime has gotten out of control in our cities.”

In the interview, Vance pointed to attacks targeting law enforcement officers enforcing federal immigration law under Trump’s directives, such as the Sept. 24 attack on the ICE office in Dallas that killed two people and injured one.

Vance also noted that there has been a 1,000 percent increase in attacks against ICE agents under the Trump administration.

“We have people right now who are going out there, who are doing the job the president asked them to do, who are enforcing our immigration laws,” he told NBC News.

Trump has also continued to say that he’s willing to invoke the act as opposition to immigration enforcement in U.S. metro areas has continued.

“We have an Insurrection Act for a reason. If I had to enact it, I would do that,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Oct. 6. “If people were being killed and courts were holding us up or governors or mayors were holding us up, sure I would do that.”

Jack Phillips and Stacy Robinson contributed to this report. 

Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly described the three individuals who died in the Dallas ICE facility shooting. The Epoch Times regrets the error.