US President Donald Trump has not ruled out using the Insurrection Act to send troops to Chicago and other cities as part of the fight against crime. He accused the Chicago authorities of being unable to control the situation in the city.
Trump was asked during a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney whether he intended to use the 1807 law, which allows the use of active troops to suppress rebellions and riots.
– It was already used in the past, as you know. “If you look at Chicago, Chicago is a great city with a lot of crime, and if the governor can't do the job, we will do the job,” Trump replied. – They've probably had 50 homicides in Chicago over the last 5-6-7 months, a lot of people have been shot. And then the governor comes and says, “we can take care of it.” They can't, he added.
Trump's words are another announcement of the possible use of troops in American cities in a broader way than before. The Insurrection Act has been used many times in U.S. history to suppress riots using the National Guard or regular military. The last time it was invoked by President George HW Bush was in 1992 to pacify race riots in Los Angeles in 1992. One of the most famous cases was Dwight Eisenhower's use of the act to enable racial desegregation of schools in Arkansas. John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson also intervened in similar circumstances.
On Monday, Republican Governor of Texas Greg Abbott declared his readiness to send Texas National Guard troops to Chicago. Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, a Democrat, appealed against the decision in court, but so far the court has not decided to stop sending soldiers, as it did in the case of attempts to deploy Guard troops in Portland, where protests against ICE, the service responsible for deporting immigrants, are ongoing. Pritzker on Monday accused the Trump administration of trying to create a pretext for a broader military intervention in his state.
– The Trump administration is following this plan: create chaos, sow fear and confusion, and give the impression that peaceful protesters are violent mobs by shooting them with tear gas and grenades. What for? To create an excuse to invoke the Insurrection Act, Pritzker said.
Under the law, without invoking the Insurrection Act, troops under federal control can only be used to protect federal property and officials, not to suppress protests. So far, the Trump administration has pledged to use troops in such a limited role.
California Governor Urges: States Cannot Invade Each Other
California Governor Gavin Newsom announced that he will withdraw from the US Governors' Association if the governments of individual states do not stop “invading each other.” He commented on sending the Texas National Guard to Illinois and Oregon to prevent riots and crime.
“If the National Governors Association cannot take a stand against states that are LITERALLY INVADING EACH OTHER – then I am quitting,” Newsom said in a post on Platform X. A similar threat to leave the organization was made by Illinois Governor JB Pritzker.
The National Governors Association is an organization that brings together the heads of state governments of the 50 states of America and is a forum for dialogue and cooperation between them.
The politicians' declarations are reactions to the decision of Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbot to allow President Donald Trump to send state National Guard troops to Chicago and Portland, where there are relatively small but regular protests against the ICE immigration service, which have repeatedly turned into clashes with officers.
Newsom previously challenged Trump's decision to send the California Guard to Portland, and a federal court temporarily blocked the president's decision. Pritzker also challenged the sending of troops from Texas to Illinois, but in this case the court did not decide to issue an immediate ban, although it could still do so.
Newsom, who previously unsuccessfully tried to block the federalization of his own state's National Guard troops in the wake of the Los Angeles riots, is one of the leading and most vocal figures in opposition to Trump's actions. Both he and Pritzker are mentioned among possible future presidential candidates. On Monday, the politician warned that America was at risk of being declared martial law.
“STATES CANNOT INVAD EACH OTHER. It's so simple – so fundamental to America – I can't believe I have to write these words. America is on the verge of martial law,” he said.
President Donald Trump and his team say the anti-ICE protests in Portland and Chicago constitute insurrection and acts of terrorism against the state, and that judges preventing troops from being sent to the cities are conducting a “legal insurrection.” Trump and his adviser Stephen Miller have not ruled out that if their plans are blocked, they may invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807, which allows the president to use the military throughout the country to suppress riots and rebellions.
– I will do it if necessary. So far, it hasn't been necessary, Trump said on Monday.
From Washington Oskar Górzyński (PAP)
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