Donald Trump claimed that invoking the Insurrection Act is actually “very common” and that he would have “no problem” doing so as tensions over ICE ramp up in the country.
In an interview with NewsNation on Tuesday night, Trump, 79, said anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity in and around Minneapolis, Minnesota, doesn’t yet require him to deploy the military to enforce federal law. However, he claimed he has no qualms giving the order should he feel the need.
“I don’t think we need it at this point, and hopefully we won’t need it, but I would not have any problem with invoking it if we needed it,” Trump said on Katie Pavlich Tonight.
The panel was debating the heavy-handed tactics of ICE. ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP via Getty Images
He preemptively pushed back against critics, pointing to several past instances of presidents invoking the 1807 law.
“It is actually very common—you know, with me they’ll make it like a big deal—but it’s been used by over 40 percent of the presidents during their term,“ he claimed. ”It’s something I would have no problem doing if I think we needed it.”
Trump’s claim that “over 40 percent” of presidents had invoked the Insurrection Act was slightly high. NewsNation
Trump’s figure is a bit high. Fifteen presidents have invoked the law a total of thirty times, according to the Brennan Center for Justice, with the most recent instance being the Los Angeles riots in 1992. When measured against the 42 other men who have been president, that rate is just under 36 percent; it’s about 33 percent when considering the 45 total presidencies.
“Some presidents used it actually many times, and it does make life a lot easier,” Trump went on. “You don’t go through the court system, you don’t, you know—it’s just a much easier thing to do.”
Trump has floated invoking the act in response to backlash spurred by an ICE agent shooting and killing Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis earlier this month.
“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,” he wrote on Truth Social last week.
Late last year, when Trump was working to deploy National Guard troops to Democratic-run cities, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller was reportedly leading discussions on when and how to invoke the act.
Trump also weighed invoking it during the 2020 social justice protests.
