A controversy arose regarding the Arizona Attorney General suggesting killing ICE agents;
Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs said NOTHING to discourage ICE killings.
Arizona Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes suggested that Arizona’s “Stand Your Ground” laws could legally allow residents to use deadly force against “masked” federal ICE agents. She argued that if agents are not clearly identifiable, they could pose a threat.
These comments were immediately condemned by elected officials, including Congressman Abe Hamadeh, who described them as “justifying the murder of our ICE agents” and a “recipe for disaster”.
“Governor” says nothing to discourage killings suggested by Attorney General Kris Mayes’ statements.
Governor Hobbs herself has recently focused on vetoing
legislation that would force local police to cooperate with ICE.
WRT The Insurrection Act, President Trump has threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act regarding anti-ICE demonstrations, specifically targeting Minnesota in early 2026.
He stated he would use it if “people were being killed and courts were holding us or governors or mayors were holding us up”.
“Should” He Invoke It?
Whether a president should invoke the Insurrection Act is a matter of intense political debate. Proponents would argue that if state officials are actively undermining federal law enforcement or encouraging violence against agents, the Act is necessary to enforce federal authority and protect agents.
Critics argue that using the military for domestic law enforcement is an extreme, unconstitutional overreach that violates the Posse Comitatus Act, particularly if the state’s actions are legal under state self-defense laws.
As of the latest reports, Trump has stated he did not feel the need to use the act “right now,” though he maintained he would do so if necessary.
The Insurrection Act of 1807 came out of the need, in part, for President Thomas Jefferson to confront the actions of Aaron Burr, his former vice president. Burr was alleged to have organized an expedition to capture part of Jefferson’s Louisiana Purchase to help create a new country. The act allowed the president “in all cases of insurrection, or obstruction to the laws, either of the United States, or of any individual state or territory” to use the federal armed in addition to the militia “for the purpose of suppressing such insurrection, or of causing the laws to be duly executed.” Jefferson ordered Burr’s arrest, which was carried out by troops in Alabama.
In July 1861, President Abraham Lincoln and Congress relied on acts to expand the president’s powers to deal with “the Suppression of Rebellion against and resistance to the Laws of the United States” during the Civil War. This revised version of the Militia Act of 1795 stated the president could have the militia “enforce the faithful execution of the laws of the United States.” The revised act was also used to send federal troops to suppress the 1863 draft riots in New York. In 1871, Congress revised the act to allow the president to use the militia and federal forces to guarantee the equal protection and citizenship rights granted to citizens under the 14th Amendment.
According to the CRS, clear exceptions to the Posse Comitatus Act exist where “Congress has delegated authority to the president to call forth the military during an insurrection or civil disturbance.” Such situations may include a request from a state for assistance, the need of the president to enforce a federal law, or a need to protect civil rights. Examples of these acts in use include the deployment of federal forces to help James Meredith to enroll as a student at the University of Mississippi in 1962, and President Lyndon Johnson’s use of the military to protect marchers in Selma, Ala., in 1965.
Andrew Jackson used the law to put down Nat Turner’s Rebellion and to put down a revolt by C&O Canal laborers in Maryland.
Ulysses S. Grant used the law at least three times during Reconstruction to respond to violent racist rioting by the Klan and other white supremacists. Grover Cleveland cited it to respond to the Pullman Strike in 1894 and Woodrow Wilson used the power to send troops to the 1914 Colorado Coalfield War.
https://www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/insurrection-act-of-1807/