Time for the President to Invoke the Insurrection Act

My colleagues at RedState have been all over the events occurring in Minnesota and other states/cities where the left-wing is conducting an actual insurrection against the federal government’s attempt to enforce federal laws regarding illegal aliens.

In response, on January 15, 2026, President Trump vowed:

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, which many Presidents have done before me, and quickly put an end to the travesty that is taking place in that once great State.

All of this is certainly true.

When Presidents Unleash the Insurrection Act - and Why It Matters

The Insurrection Act, originally named the Calling Forth (the Militia) Act, was first passed by the Second Congress, for a temporary term of years. This Congress, of course, was comprised of many of our nation’s founding fathers, including James Madison, the Father of the Constitution:

In section 8 of the constitution, the power to "call forth" the militia was expressly given to congress. But, only two years into George Washington's presidency, the Second Congress temporarily delegated its authority under the First Militia Clause by passing a statute “to provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the laws of the Union, suppress insurrections and repel invasions.”… Two years after this act passed, President Washington called forth the militia to suppress the Whiskey Rebellion.

The Whiskey Rebellion erupted in 1794. Alexander Hamilton, the first secretary of the treasury, had proposed a federal excise tax on liquor to raise money to pay down the national debt, which was passed into law. But small farmers of the backcountry distilled (and consumed) whiskey, which was easy to transport and sell, as an informal currency. The distillers resisted the tax by attacking – often tarring and feathering – federal revenue officers who attempted to collect it. This prompted an organized rebellion, which was eventually dealt with by President George Washington:

[I]n July of 1794 about 500 armed men attacked and burned the home of the regional tax inspector after a smaller group had been fended off the previous day. The following month Pres. George Washington issued a congressionally authorized proclamation ordering the rebels to return home and calling for militia from Pennsylvania and three neighbouring states (New Jersey, Maryland, and Virginia). After fruitless negotiations with the 15-member committee representing the rebels (which included Anti-Federalist Pennsylvania legislator and later U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin), Washington ordered some 13,000 troops into the area, but the opposition melted away and no battle ensued. Troops occupied the region and some of the rebels were tried, but the two convicted of treason were later pardoned by the president.

Immediately after the rebellion was put down, President Washington asked Congress to make the Insurrection Act permanent. He also asked that the required judicial intervention language be dropped (which occurred).

For over 200 years since then, the Insurrection Act has been invoked in response to 30 separate crises, with the most recent instance occurring during the 1992 California riots, when it was used by President George H. W. Bush.

The current language for the Insurrection Act is located at 10 U.S.C. § 252 Use of Militia and Armed Forces to Enforce Federal Authority. It says:

Whenever the President considers that unlawful obstructions, combinations, or assemblages, or rebellion against the authority of the United States, make it impracticable to enforce the laws of the United States in any State by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings, he may call into Federal service such of the militia of any State, and use such of the armed forces, as he considers necessary to enforce those laws or to suppress the rebellion.

Since the GOP took full control over the federal government in January of 2025, the Trump administration has instituted a legal crackdown on illegal aliens, preventing them from entering our nation, and tracking down and deporting those who are already here. The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has been the lead agency used in those deportations.

As a result, Democrats and their allies in left-wing groups, including the Soros groups, have organized an armed and violent resistance to the enforcement of federal immigration law. They have set up “a large, very organized, decentralized structure” to organize and promote rioting in cities and states. This structure provides rioters with equipment, training, and legal advice to impede legitimate and legal ICE activities. Democrat public officials, including Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, have incited resistance and violence towards the federal government, its laws, and ICE. ICE agents have been attacked by left-wingers with cars and shovels, and other potentially dangerous devices.

Outside of Minnesota, some left-wing radicals have even used guns to target ICE, resulting in actual deaths.

Almost certainly, based on the facts at hand, the Democrats and their allied left-wing groups are establishing “unlawful obstructions, combinations, or assemblages, or rebellion” that are working against the federal government’s authority to deport illegal aliens, which makes it “impracticable” to enforce these federal laws in Minnesota (and elsewhere) by “the ordinary course of judicial proceedings.” Therefore, if the Insurrection Act is activated, the President would be empowered “to call into Federal service such of the militia of any State, and use such of the armed forces, as he considers necessary to enforce those laws or to suppress the rebellion.”

Here is a vastly more detailed version of this argument.

Based on these facts, I humbly suggest that President Trump issue an official proclamation for these left-wing insurrectionists to disperse to start the process for the Insurrection Act.

This is totally constitutional and legal and should be relatively simple and easy for everyone to understand; those claiming otherwise are either misinformed or being deliberately dishonest.

Editor’s Note: Do you enjoy RedState's conservative reporting that takes on the radical left and woke media? Support our work so that we can continue to bring you the truth.

Join RedState VIP and use promo code FIGHT to receive 60% off your membership.