Sharing the Facts About the Insurrection Act

The Insurrection Act is a federal law that enables the president to deploy the U.S. military to states to enforce federal law. It is an exception to the Posse Comitatus Act, a law that has been on the books since the 1800s that forbids federal military forces from conducting civilian law enforcement. While the Insurrection Act’s terms of when it may be invoked are not well-defined, the military is still subject to the bounds of all other laws once deployed.

In January 2026, following demonstrations protesting the deployment of 3,000 federal immigration enforcement personnel and the killing of an American citizen by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Minnesota, President Trump threatened to invoke the act. He said he would use it if local officials “don’t obey the law and stop the professional agitators and insurrections.” State and local leaders in Minnesota have said there is no emergency that would warrant this action by the president.

If invoked, the Insurrection Act allows the commander in chief to deploy federalized National Guard troops and active-duty armed forces to enforce federal laws or “suppress rebellion” on U.S. soil. The military, under the control of the president, is therefore engaging in civilian law enforcement—normally reserved for state, local, or federal officials.

Three sections of the Insurrection Act allow the president to domestically deploy troops, each in a different scenario:

• Section 251 allows the president to respond to a state legislature or governor’s request for federal aid to suppress an insurrection.
• Section 252 permits the president to federalize and domestically deploy a state’s National Guard or the regular military to “enforce the laws” or to “suppress rebellion,” without the request of state authorities.
• Section 253 allows the president to use the military (whether National Guard or regular military) on U.S. soil to suppress “any insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination, or conspiracy” that violates the law and, in the process, deprives people of their constitutional rights. This section can be enacted if state authorities are unable or unwilling to defend the laws. This section also allows the president to deploy troops to suppress an insurrection that obstructs the execution of U.S. laws.

The Insurrection Act has only been used in response to 30 crises in our nation’s history. It was last invoked in 1992, when, at the request of the governor of California, President George H.W. Bush deployed federal troops to quell civil unrest following the acquittal of four Los Angeles police officers over the beating of Rodney King. Using the Insurrection Act to deploy troops over a governor’s objection has happened in extreme circumstances, like enforcing school integration in the 1950s or against racist violence in the Reconstruction Era.

Traditionally, the National Guard is deployed under state control to assist local authorities in their response to a crisis and are not frontline law enforcement. Trump has attempted to federalize and deploy the Guard in several states throughout the past year using a different federal statute, including in California, Oregon, and Illinois. But those attempts have recently been thwarted by the U.S. Supreme Court, which held that Trump improperly used the statute.

Here are some key takeaways of the implications of the president invoking the Insurrection Act:

• Trump’s threat to invoke the Insurrection Act is a clear and dangerous abuse of presidential power.
  • He’s been trying to normalize deploying the military domestically for months and is slowly trying to chip away at norms and laws prohibiting this.
  • The president is ignoring state and local leaders who say that the military is not needed for civilian law enforcement.
  • The commander in chief wants to turn the power and resources of the U.S. military on our own country and our people, deploying troops in our states, cities, and communities to enforce his will.
• The states being targeted by the president did not ask for federal assistance.
  • This is not normal. This is un-American and does not solve any problems.
• This isn’t about safety at all. It’s about politics.
  • Use of the Insurrection Act should be a last resort, but the president wants the military to police our communities.
  • The president is ignoring the capabilities of state and local law enforcement, who are maintaining public safety. They know the community best.
  • The president is trying to escalate a situation to grab headlines and score political points.
  • U.S. soldiers and National Guard members would be taken away from their important work. They did not sign up to be deployed in a politicized way.
• It’s clear the president is going to try to send troops into more places and seems in no hurry to take them out.
  • He’s been building toward this with unlawful National Guard deployments.
  • In D.C., the National Guard is still on the streets many months later.
  • In California, the National Guard mission was extended for months, long after any civil disturbance had subsided.
  • Trump wants to normalize putting armed military on our streets.