President Donald Trump threatened Monday to use emergency powers against rebellion to deploy more troops into Democratic-led US cities, intensifying his rhetoric as his attempts to mobilize the military face legal challenges.

The Republican leader openly mulled use of the Insurrection Act after a federal judge in Oregon temporarily halted a National Guard deployment in Portland, while another judge in Illinois allowed a similar move to proceed for now in Chicago.

Both cities have seen surges of federal agents as part of Trump's mass deportation drive, prompting protests outside immigration processing facilities.

"We have an Insurrection Act for a reason. If I had to enact it I would do that," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

"If people were being killed and courts were holding

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