Power Grab/Fire anyone who can stop him
Trump put the Insurrection Act on the table on his first day back, and has threatened it since
A border emergency proclamation signed January 20, 2025 ordered a 90-day report that included a recommendation on invoking the 1807 law that lets a president use troops for domestic law enforcement.
What happened
On January 20, 2025, Trump signed a proclamation declaring a national emergency at the southern border. Section 6(b) directed the Secretaries of Defense and Homeland Security to report jointly within 90 days on conditions at the border, including a recommendation on whether to invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807.
The Insurrection Act lets a president use the military or a federalized National Guard for domestic law enforcement. The report was due about April 20, 2025. CNN reported that Hegseth and Noem would recommend against invoking the Act because crossings were low. The text of the memo has not been made public.
Through January 2026, Trump repeatedly threatened to invoke the Act, including against Minneapolis protesters on January 15, 2026. He had not done so. He said he could use it if courts or governors blocked his National Guard deployments.
Who benefited
The White House gained a documented option to put soldiers into American cities without a governor’s consent. The report process could supply a justification, and the threat alone gave Trump leverage over the governors and mayors resisting his deployments in 2025 and 2026.
Who wanted something
Trump had promised on the 2023 campaign trail that “the next time, I am not waiting.” Vice-President Vance said in October 2025 that the president was “looking at all his options.” Stephen Miller and other immigration hard-liners framed the border as an invasion that required military force.
Who lost out
Governors and city leaders in Oregon, Illinois, California and Minnesota had the most to lose, because the threat was designed to bypass their authority over their own National Guard. Residents of cities where troops were or could be deployed lost the same protection. The law was last invoked in 1992, at a governor’s request.
Why it matters
The proclamation put a 19th-century emergency power on the administration’s agenda in writing on day one, before any unrest existed. Every later deployment fight has been argued under the standing threat that, if the courts said no, the president could reach for this law.
Sources White House (primary)PBS NewsPBS News / APCNN (via Yahoo News)