Trump suggests invoking the Insurrection Act against Minneapolis protests: What it can do

The president has repeatedly suggested invoking the act during both his presidential terms, claiming there were parts of the US that could not be controlled by local law enforcement, and that he would override their wishes and deploy troops if necessary to quell protests.

The suggested use of the act, provided it withstands legal challenges, comes against the backdrop of a remarkable escalation in federal actions purportedly targeting illegal immigration. Trump himself has threatened to cut federal funding to sanctuary cities, like Minneapolis, from February 1. Sanctuary cities refer to local or state governments that have committed to minimising their cooperation with federal immigration law officers.

Similarly, the Department of Homeland Security said it would indefinitely cease visa processing for people from 75 countries from January 21. The latter move targets such persons that the administration sees as likely to become a “public charge”, who may rely on public benefits for basic needs.

What is the Insurrection Act?

The Insurrection Act was signed by Thomas Jefferson in 1807, comprising laws and amendments enacted between 1792 and 1871.

The act allows the US president to deploy the military or federalise National Guard troops to enforce the law when faced with “unlawful obstructions, combinations, or assemblages, or rebellion” against the government, making it “impracticable to enforce” US law “by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings”.

Troops may thus be tasked with quelling rebellion or large-scale violence, based on certain criteria. For instance, troops may be deployed at the request of a state’s governor or legislature.

However, the act has only been invoked in circumstances of massive unrest, when agitations cannot be contained by local law enforcement. The present circumstances surrounding the agitation in Minneapolis suggest a drastically different reality.

Under what circumstances has the Act been used in the past?

The act was drafted under vastly different circumstances in the 18th century, allowing for its broad and vague language to be interpreted by presidents at will to deploy active-duty military to carry out domestic law-enforcement duties. However, a central tenet of this act built upon the prevailing Anglo-American tradition of the time that opposed military intervention unless as a “tool of last resort.”

George Washington signed its first version in 1792 to mobilise state militias, which preceded the National Guard when “laws of the United States shall be opposed, or the execution thereof obstructed.” The law was expanded by Congress in 1807 to counter “insurrection or obstruction” of laws.

The act has been used sparingly through American history to protect individual rights. Abraham Lincoln used the act to quell the rebellion by southern states during the US Civil War, and Ulysses Grant invoked the act to quell racist violence by the Ku Klux Klan following the war. Dwight Eisenhower invoked the act in Arkansas to get the state to comply with a federal desegregation order.

The act has been deployed around clashes with striking workers and expanding immigration, with President Grover Cleveland deploying troops to protect Chinese citizens who were being targeted by white rioters in Washington in 1885-86, while Woodrow Wilson deployed troops in Colorado amid a coal strike in 1914 after workers were killed.

More recently, in 1992, then President George W Bush sent in military troops after widespread protests in Los Angeles after four white police officers were acquitted of the charges of beating up Rodney King, a black man.

And why does Trump want to use the Act?

Trump has pursued an aggressive crackdown on immigration since returning to the White House last January, asking on his very first day for “recommendations regarding additional actions that may be necessary to obtain complete operational control of the southern border, including whether to invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807”.

Faced with months of protests against his proposed deployments of the National Guard country-wide, he mooted the use of the Act in October, then telling reporters that he was “allowed” to use it if courts blocked his efforts to send the National Guard to American cities.

“Everybody agrees you’re allowed to use that and there is no more court cases, there is no more anything,” the president said. “We’re trying to do it in a nicer manner, but we can always use the Insurrection Act if we want.”

During his current term, Trump has increased funding for ICE under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, and empowered the agency to shoot and detain individuals suspected of being illegal immigrants at will. The agency deployed 2,000 officers and agents to the twin cities of Minneapolis and Minnesota earlier this month,

Days after Good was shot dead, protests have continued in Minnesota against the alleged high-handed behaviour by ICE agents, despite their official mandate to de-escalate potential confrontations when possible. These agents are almost always masked and bear firearms, traversing through residential neighbourhoods while donning military-style camouflage gear.