President Donald Trump announced Friday that the penalty for anyone caught burning an American flag going forward will be one year in prison.

The move comes after Trump signed an executive order earlier this year ordering those burning the flag to be prosecuted.

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“To ICE, Border Patrol, Law Enforcement, and all U.S. Military: As per my August 25, 2025 Executive Order, please be advised that, from this point forward, anybody burning the American Flag will be subject to one year in prison,” Trump wrote on Truth Social Friday evening.

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“You will be immediately arrested,” the president added.

White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told the Washington Examiner, “President Trump will not allow the American Flag – a special symbol of our country’s greatness – to be used as a tool to incite violence and riots that jeopardize the safety of everyday Americans. President Trump will always protect the First Amendment, while simultaneously implementing commonsense, tough-on-crime policies to prevent violence and chaos.”

Questions remain about whether government prosecutions for flag burning can stand, given the Supreme Court’s 1989 ruling in Texas v. Johnson that flag burning is protected speech.

The executive order contends that flag burning that is likely to “incite imminent lawless action” should be a crime.

“Notwithstanding the Supreme Court’s rulings on First Amendment protections, the Court has never held that American Flag desecration conducted in a manner that is likely to incite imminent lawless action or that is an action amounting to ‘fighting words’ is constitutionally protected,” the order says.

Attorney General Pam Bondi said at the executive order signing that the government would protect the American flag “without running afoul of the First Amendment.”

Trump’s post also advises the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement of the one-year prison term. The executive order calls for the DHS to revoke immigration benefits for foreigners who burn American flags and to seek their deportation.

The flag-burning order comes after the Trump administration fixates on Portland, deploying federal agents and the National Guard there to quell unrest and support immigration enforcement operations.

Oregon officials have resisted the deployment, saying that it is unnecessary and uncalled for.

A conservative journalist, Nick Sortor, was recently arrested after stopping anti-ICE protesters from burning an American flag in Portland. Portland Police then arrested Sortor after he got into a confrontation with anti-ICE protesters. He said the arrest was unexpected.

“I get back up, I stumble away and go back toward cops where I think, you know, at least, all right, well, maybe that’ll be a safer place for me to go,” he told Fox News. “Never suspected that I was going to be the target of the arrest, that they were coming in to me.”

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The Department of Justice is investigating the Portland Police Department over the arrest.

The Washington Examiner reached out to the White House, the DHS, and ICE for comment, but did not receive a response.