“If I had to enact it, I’d do it,” Trump told reporters on Monday.
President Donald Trump has said multiple times this week that he may invoke the Insurrection Act to send federal troops — beyond the National Guard — to cities across the country.
Trump has claimed he is deploying National Guard troops to cities like Portland and Chicago to crack down on crime or assist Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents — despite crime rates decreasing in both cities over the past years. In reality, experts have noted, Trump is likely seeking to deploy troops to Democratic-led cities as a way to advance his authoritarian and anti-immigrant agenda.
Portland and the state of Oregon have sued the Trump administration, and a federal judge has blocked the National Guard from being deployed to the city, including from other states. Chicago and Illinois have filed a similar lawsuit, and although a judge hasn’t ruled on the matter, a hearing is scheduled for this Thursday to determine whether Trump’s orders to send troops there are legal.
Within their lawsuit, Illinois and Chicago both note that Trump has frequently derided Chicago in the past due to its leaders’ opposition to his policies.
