Trump’s threat against Minnesota this week is the latest example of how his administration has considered using arcane laws and legal arguments to enact his agenda.
In addition to the #InsurrectionAct, Trump officials have talked publicly about #suspending #due #process, a foundational constitutional principle.
Trump invoked the
#AlienEnemiesAct last year
to speed up deportations of alleged Venezuelan gang members.
White House officials considered using it a second time to justify detaining people in Chicago, according to previously unreported Signal messages obtained by the Minnesota Star Tribune.
The 1798 wartime law,
designed to combat an invasion or predatory incursion,
has only been used three times prior to this administration.
-- The last time was during World War II.
Opponents have aggressively fought the administration in court over these maneuvers.
This week, both Minnesota and Illinois filed lawsuits challenging the legality of Trump’s immigration enforcement.
The Illinois Attorney General’s Office alleged federal agents acted as “occupiers” instead of law enforcement during operations in the state last fall.
In separate cases, federal judges issued temporary restraining orders in both #Portland and #Chicago #Illinois, stopping the administration from sending National Guard troops into those cities.
A judge ordered troops out of #California in December, saying it violated the law.
And another judge has limited the use of the Alien Enemies Act to deport people.
In an interview with the New York Times, #Trump suggested the Insurrection Act could provide a work-around to legal rulings.
“Look, I’ve been stopped on some things,” he told the newspaper last week.
“Now, I will say, if I feel it’s important to invoke the Insurrection Act,
which I have the right to do,
that’s a different thing,
because then I have the right to do pretty much what I want to do.
But I haven’t done that.”
