Will Trump Use the Insurrection Act to Declare Martial Law?
Photo by Gage Skidmore
By James Conrad
On the day Donald Trump was inaugurated into his second term as President of the United States, he gave an executive order declaring a state of emergency, claiming that the United States’ southern border is “overrun by criminal gangs, known terrorists, human traffickers, smugglers, unvetted military-age males from foreign adversaries, and illicit narcotics that harm Americans, including America (sic).”
Of course, Trump’s claim is blatantly a xenophobic exaggeration. Unauthorized crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border began to decline in the twilight of former President Joseph Biden’s tenure as a result of his administration imposing tougher restrictions on refugees seeking asylum.
However, in Section 6 of this executive order, Trump mandates: “Within 90 days of the date of this proclamation, the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall submit a joint report to the President about the conditions at the southern border of the United States and any 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.”
This means that the deadline for this joint report to be submitted by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem is April 20th, 2025. This also means that if President Trump perceives civil unrest, he has the power to use armed forces, such as the National Guard, against U.S. citizens, especially people who peacefully protest against his harmful polices.
Even more troubling, a President can invoke the Insurrection Act without the approval of Congress or the courts, and the law does not impose any restrictions on what actions deployed soldiers will take.
It’s also highly probable if not inevitable, given the racism inherent in the Trump regime and the Republican party itself, that Black, Latin American, and Indigenous citizens will be targeted under these circumstances, as has statistically been the case.
On that note, should we consider it a mere coincidence that the deadline for the joint report falls on the 136th birthday of mass-murdering Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler, or not?
Meanwhile, on March 5, Vice President J.D. Vance, Pete Hegseth, and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard held a press briefing at the southern U.S. border in which they speciously blamed former President Joseph Biden for illegal border crossings and vowed to double down on anti-immigration efforts using, in the Vice President’s parlance, “…not just troops, not just surveillance, not just equipment, but actual planning and capabilities that enhance what Border Patrol is already doing.”
As of March 19th, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement reported that just over 28,000 deportations had been carried out since Trump returned to the Presidency. However, some of those deported were here legally with green cards, and at least seven (but likely many more) US citizens have been detained, deported or otherwise targeted.
ICE has also detained and/or deported travelers from France, Great Britain and Canada. Although neither the scientist nor the punk band nor the backpacker nor the wellness entrepreneur were engaged in any criminal activity, it appears President Trump is expanding the definition of criminality as to how he sees fit and according to his emotions. This is reflected in the way Welsh backpacker Becky Burke and Canadian wellness entrepreneur Jasmine Mooney were detained apparently for simply being foreigners on U.S. soil, and the way the scientist from France was turned away after border officials learned that he had criticized President Trump in his private correspondence with friends and colleagues. As for the members of U.K. Subs, while there is no evidence on public record that they were punished for speaking ill of Trump, longtime bass player Alvin Gibbs suspects that the fact that they had spoken out against Trump gave border officials sufficient motivation to deport him and the band.
JD Vance talking about how tiny his penis is. Photo by Gage Skidmore
Although J.D. Vance boasted at the press hearing that Trump’s policies have reduced border crossings by 98% (according to anecdotes from immigration officials, to be sure), it’s possible that such a figure might not be satisfactory to a President who, far more than any other, has built his political career on hyperbole-driven demagoguery (particularly against immigrants from Mexico) or for that matter, the toadies in his cabinet who hang on his every word.
In a conversation with online newsletter TheBulwark.com, Vanessa Cárdenas, the executive director of immigrant rights group America’s Voice remarked, “This whole strategy from Trump is really based on the demonization of immigrants and the idea we’re being invaded as justification of all executive orders that are trampling on our civil rights and freedoms.”
However, Charles Kuck, an immigration lawyer practicing in Atlanta, Georgia sees Trump’s invocation and subsequent abuse of the Insurrection Act of 1807 as unlikely due to the President simultaneously arguing two contradictory points. “I don’t know how you can say the border is closed and safer than ever and then say there’s an insurrection that needs to be put down,” he stated.
Then again, it doesn’t take much for Trump and the loyalists on his cabinet to exaggerate problems inherent in major cities like New York, Chicago or San Francisco enough that they would contrive any old flimsy excuse to unleash soldiers upon the citizens.
I suppose we shall see, won’t we?
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