Pentagon Readies 1,500 Troops for Possible Minnesota Deployment

The Pentagon has issued prepare-to-deploy orders to approximately 1,500 active-duty soldiers from Alaska's 11th Airborne Division, positioning them for potential deployment to Minnesota amid increasing protests related to the Trump administration's immigration enforcement operations.

This decision follows President Donald Trump's recent statement threatening to invoke the Insurrection Act, which gives the president the power to deploy the military or federalize National Guard troops to quell domestic uprisings, if state officials do not prevent protesters from interfering with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

The U.S. Army issued the orders as a precaution in case violence escalates in Minneapolis and St. Paul, where nearly 3,000 federal immigration and Border Patrol officers have been deployed in recent weeks.

Tensions spiked after the January 7 fatal shooting of Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother of three and U.S. citizen, by ICE officer Jonathan Ross while she was behind the wheel of her car.

Confrontations have since intensified, with ICE agents pursuing Somali, Hmong, and Mexican communities in the Twin Cities.

Federal agents entered a St. Paul home on Sunday and removed an elderly Hmong man wearing only underwear and a blanket as onlookers protested.

Three days earlier, agents arrested three workers from a family-run Mexican restaurant in Willmar shortly after they ate lunch there, the Minnesota Star Tribune reports.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, appearing on NBC's "Meet the Press," condemned the prospect of military involvement.

"That would be a shocking step," Frey said. "We don't need more federal agents to keep people safe. We are safe."

Saturday saw a small pro-ICE rally led by Jake Lang, a pardoned January 6 participant known for anti-Muslim and antisemitic views, draw only about five supporters.

Lang faced hundreds of counterprotesters who chased him away amid scuffles in freezing temperatures, with images of injuries circulated online to portray chaos.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz has mobilized the state's National Guard to support local law enforcement and protect peaceful demonstrators' rights, as announced by the Department of Public Safety on Saturday.

Local leaders accuse the administration of federal overreach, exaggerating isolated incidents to justify the crackdown, while tying it to an unrelated welfare fraud scandal disproportionately highlighting Somali immigrants.

Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell stated, "The Department of War is always prepared to execute the orders of the commander-in-chief if called upon," using the administration's preferred term for the Department of Defense.