Trump’s threat to invoke Insurrection Act escalates showdown with Democratic cities

CHICAGO -  Hundreds of Texas National Guard soldiers gathered on Oct 7 at an army facility outside Chicago, as US President Donald Trump’s threat to invoke an anti-insurrection law and deploy troops to more US cities intensified the battle over the limits to his authority.

The Republican President on Oct 7 again left open the possibility that he might use the centuries-old Insurrection Act to sidestep any court rulings blocking the dispatch of Guard troops to Democrat-led cities, over the objections of local and state officials.

A federal judge has temporarily barred Guard troops from heading to Portland, Oregon, though a separate judge has allowed for now a deployment to proceed in Chicago, where federal agents have embarked on a sweeping crackdown on illegal immigration.

“Well, it’s been invoked before,” Mr Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

He has claimed that troops are needed to protect federal property and personnel in carrying out their duties, as well as assisting an overall drive to suppress crime.

The law, which gives the president authority to deploy the military to quell unrest in an emergency, has typically been used only in extreme cases, and almost always at the invitation of state governors.

The Act was last invoked by President George H.W. Bush during the Los Angeles riots of 1992.

Under federal law, National Guard and other military troops are generally prohibited from conducting civilian law enforcement.

But the Insurrection Act operates as an exception to that rule and would give troops the power to directly police and arrest people.

Using the Act would represent a significant escalation of Mr Trump’s effort to deploy the military to Democratic cities.

Since his second term as president began in January, he has shown little hesitation in seeking to wield governmental authority against his political opponents, as he pushes to expand the powers of the presidency in ways that have tested the limits of the law.

Last week, in a speech to top military commanders, Mr Trump suggested using US cities as “training grounds” for the armed forces, alarming Democrats and civil liberties groups.

Retired army major-general Randy Manner, who served as acting vice-chief of the National Guard Bureau, said using the Insurrection Act in the way Mr Trump appears to be contemplating has no real precedent.

“It’s an extremely dangerous slope, because it essentially says the president can just do about whatever he chooses,” said Gen Manner, who served under both Republican and Democratic administrations before retiring in 2012. “It’s absolutely, absolutely the definition of dictatorship and fascism.”

Trump targets Chicago, Portland

Mr Trump

has ordered Guard troops to Chicago,

the third-largest US city, and Portland following earlier deployments to Los Angeles and Washington DC.

In each case, he has done so despite staunch opposition from Democratic mayors and governors, who say Mr Trump’s claims of lawlessness and violence do not reflect reality.

Texas Guard troops were seen on Oct 7 assembling at the Army Reserve Training Centre in Elwood, about 80km south-west of Chicago. It was not immediately clear when they plan to begin operations in the city itself.

In Chicago and Portland, protests over Mr Trump’s immigration policies had been largely peaceful and relatively limited in size, according to local officials, far from the “war zone” conditions described by Mr Trump.

Since the surge of federal agents to the Chicago area in September, the demonstrations have done little to upset life in a city where violent crime has fallen sharply.

Restaurants and theatres are as busy as ever, and crowds have flocked to lakefront beaches to enjoy an unusual stretch of warm weather.

Protests have been much less disruptive than the unrest in 2020 triggered by the death of Mr George Floyd, an unarmed black man, at the hands of Minneapolis police officers.

The most regular demonstration has taken place outside an immigration processing facility in suburban Broadview.

Several dozen people have engaged in increasingly violent stand-offs with federal officers, who have fired tear gas and rubber bullets at them.

Several people, including at least one reporter, have been arrested, and dozens of people have been injured.

Governor alleges Trump using Guard as props

Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, a Democrat, accused Mr Trump of intentionally trying to foment violence to justify further militarisation.

“Donald Trump is using our service members as political props and as pawns in his illegal effort to militarise our nation’s cities,” Mr Pritzker told reporters on Oct 6. 

Illinois and Chicago sued the Trump administration on Oct 6, seeking to block orders to federalise 300 Illinois Guard troops and send 400 Texas Guard troops to Chicago.

During a court hearing, Justice Department lawyers told a federal judge that hundreds of Texas Guard troops were already in transit to Illinois.

The judge, Justice April Perry, permitted the deployment to proceed for now but ordered the US government to file a response by Oct 7.

Separately, a federal judge in Oregon on Oct 5 temporarily blocked the administration from sending any National Guard troops to police Portland, the state’s largest city.

National Guard troops are state-based militia who normally answer to the governors of their states and are often deployed in response to natural disasters.

During Mr Trump’s deployments to various cities, the Guard has been limited to protecting federal agents and property, though the Defence Department has said troops have the authority to detain people temporarily.

Any effort by Mr Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act would likely face legal challenges.

While the law has rarely been interpreted by the courts, the Supreme Court has ruled that the president alone can determine if the Act’s conditions have been met. Those conditions include instances when the US government’s authority is facing “unlawful obstructions, combinations or assemblages or rebellion”. REUTERS