President Donald Trump has again threatened to invoke a rarely used 19th Century law, this time to deploy the military to Minneapolis, Minnesota where thousands continue to protest against the large presence of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers.
The demonstrations have intensified after an ICE officer fatally shot a protester, Renee Good, in her car last week. This week, federal law enforcement shot a man in the leg in Minneapolis in a move federal officials say was self defence.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said that “if the corrupt politicians of Minnesota don’t obey the law and stop the professional agitators and insurrectionists from attacking the Patriots of I.C.E., who are only trying to do their job, I will institute the INSURRECTION ACT”.
The Insurrection Act of 1807 allows the president to use active-duty military personnel to perform law-enforcement duties inside the US.
Trump said that by using the act he would “quickly put an end to the travesty that is taking place in that once great State” of Minnesota.
Here’s what to know about the law.
What is the Insurrection Act of 1807?
The 19th Century law would allow the use of active-duty military personnel to perform law-enforcement duties within the US.
US presidents can invoke the law if they determine that “unlawful obstructions, combinations, or assemblages, or rebellion” against the government make it “impracticable to enforce” US law “by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings”.
Once invoked, troops could be tasked with a range of duties, from quelling civil unrest and enforcing court orders to arresting and detaining migrants. This includes the National Guard – a branch of the US armed forces traditionally reserved for domestic emergencies and disasters.
Because the Insurrection Act was written in broad terms, with little specific guidance on how and when the powers can be used, it gives presidents wide latitude in deciding when to mobilise military personnel for domestic operations.
Why does Trump want to use it?
Throughout his election campaign, Trump vowed to crack down on illegal immigration, calling the southern border situation a “national emergency” that could be better tamed by invoking the 19th Century statute.
On his first day in office in January, he asked 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”.
The administration has already rolled out a series of sweeping measures targeting the border. These include a nationwide deportation sweep and transferring alleged Venezuelan gang members to a prison in El Salvador – a decision now facing legal challenges.
Last October, Trump again said he was mulling the use of the Insurrection Act after a federal judge blocked him from sending National Guard troops to Portland, Oregon, which the president argued was overrun by left-wing “domestic terrorists”.
While he said he had not reached a point where that decision was necessary, “if I had to enact it, I’d do it, if people were being killed and courts were holding us up, or governors and mayors were holding us up”.
Then, in January 2026, after weeks of tension in Minneapolis, Minnesota, as thousands of ICE agents ramped up operations in the city, Trump threatened to use the act once again to quell protests.
How has it been used in the past?
The Insurrection Act has been invoked a handful of times in American history.
Abraham Lincoln used it when the southern states rebelled during the US Civil War, and after the war President Ulysses S Grant invoked it against a wave of racist violence by the Ku Klux Klan after the war.
In the 20th Century, President Dwight D Eisenhower invoked it so the US Army would escort black students into their school in Little Rock, Arkansas, after the state’s governor refused to comply with a federal desegregation order.
More recently, it was used in 1992 when massive riots broke out in Los Angeles over the acquittal of four white police officers in the beating of Rodney King, a black man. Then-President George Bush sent in active-duty members of the Marines and Army as well as National Guard troops.
Are there any limits on the law?
The US government has traditionally worked to limit the use of military force on American soil, especially against its own citizens.
The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 was enacted to restrict the military from acting as domestic law enforcement. In times of unrest, states typically deploy the National Guard themselves to help maintain order.
Since returning to office, Trump has expanded his authority by declaring national emergencies – which gives him access to powers and resources that are normally restricted.
He has used this authority to impose tariffs and, more controversially, to take action on immigration and deploy federal officers, the National Guard and even active-duty troops to cities including Washington DC, Los Angeles and Memphis.
In March, following his emergency declaration at the border, Trump invoked the rarely used Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deport migrants he alleged were gang members. A series of legal challenges followed, with the Supreme Court putting some temporary limits on its use.
If Trump chooses to invoke the Insurrection Act, it remains unclear what legal challenges he might face.
Source: bbc.co.uk
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