Fri Apr 25 20:40:00 UTC 2025: **Trump Administration Likely to Forgo Insurrection Act for Border Control**
WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem will reportedly recommend against invoking the Insurrection Act to address the situation at the US southern border, according to multiple US officials familiar with the matter. This recommendation, detailed in a forthcoming memo to President Trump, counters the President’s previous consideration of using active-duty troops for law enforcement functions related to migrant arrests.
The memo, originally due Sunday but expected next week, follows a January executive order declaring a border emergency and demanding a 90-day report on the feasibility of using the Insurrection Act. Hegseth and Noem are expected to cite the significantly reduced number of daily border crossings—currently under 300, a sharp decrease from recent years—as justification for not needing additional military authority.
While thousands of US troops have been deployed to the border, their role has been limited to logistical support, patrol, and construction, not arrests. Frustration within the Trump administration over the slower pace of interior arrests of undocumented immigrants has been reported, with some suggesting the Insurrection Act as a means to increase arrest numbers nationwide. However, concerns about the capacity of detention facilities, including the still-under-construction migrant housing at Fort Bliss, Texas, seem to have weighed heavily in the decision. Plans for additional facilities at Guantanamo Bay have been indefinitely suspended.
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