Oct. 6 (UPI) -- President Donald Trump told reporters Monday he would consider invoking the Insurrection Act to send National Guard troops into Portland, one day after a federal judge blocked the administration's mobilization for a second time.
Trump planned to send 200 National Guard troops from California to Oregon to prevent protesters from confronting Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in the Oregon city, where he claimed there was a "criminal insurrection."
"You look at what's happening with Portland over the years, it's a burning hell hole," Trump told reporters, who had gathered in the Oval Office at the White House. "And then you have a judge that lost her way that tries to pretend that there's no problem."
"I'd do it if it was necessary. So far, it hasn't been necessary. But we have an Insurrection Act for a reason," Trump said. "If I had to enact it, I'd do that. If people were being killed, and courts were holding us up or governors or mayors were holding us up, sure, I'd do that. I mean, I want to make sure people aren't killed."
The Insurrection Act is a federal law, enacted in 1807, that allows the president to deploy the U.S. military to stop what the president considers to be a "criminal insurrection" against the United States.
