The Pentagon has directed approximately 1,500 active-duty soldiers to ready themselves for a potential deployment to Minnesota, where significant protests against the government’s immigration enforcement efforts have been taking place, as per reports from U.S. media on Sunday. These soldiers have been put on standby orders in case the situation escalates into violence in the northern state, according to unnamed defense officials cited by the Washington Post. It remains uncertain whether any of these troops will be dispatched.
In response, the White House mentioned to the Post in a statement that it is customary for the Pentagon to be prepared for any decisions that the President may make. Both the Pentagon and the White House have not immediately responded to requests for comment from Reuters.
U.S. President Donald Trump recently made a threat to utilize the Insurrection Act to deploy military forces if authorities in Minnesota fail to prevent protesters from targeting immigration officials following an increase in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activities. Trump stated on his Truth Social platform, “If the corrupt politicians of Minnesota don’t obey the law and stop the professional agitators and insurrectionists from attacking the Patriots of I.C.E., who are only trying to do their job, I will institute the INSURRECTION ACT.”
Tensions have been mounting between residents and officers, particularly in Minneapolis, Minnesota’s largest city, after an ICE agent fatally shot Renee Good, a U.S. citizen and mother of three, on January 7. The soldiers being considered for deployment specialize in cold-weather operations and belong to two U.S. army infantry battalions under the 11th Airborne Division based in Alaska, as reported by the Washington Post and ABC News.
President Trump has dispatched close to 3,000 federal agents from ICE and U.S. Border Patrol to Minneapolis and neighboring St. Paul in response to the situation. He has justified these interventions as necessary to combat crime and safeguard federal property and personnel from protesters in various cities predominantly governed by Democrats. Local leaders have accused the President of overstepping federal boundaries and inflating sporadic incidents of violence to validate troop deployments.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, who is under a criminal investigation by the Justice Department, has mobilized the state’s National Guard to assist local law enforcement and emergency management agencies in handling the situation. Trump has cited a scandal involving the misappropriation of federal funds meant for social welfare programs in Minnesota as a reason for sending in immigration agents. The President and his administration have consistently targeted the state’s Somali immigrant community.
The Insurrection Act is a federal law that grants the President the authority to deploy the military or federalize National Guard troops within the U.S. to suppress domestic uprisings. It can be invoked in the presence of “unlawful obstructions, combinations, or assemblages or rebellion” against federal authority, allowing the President to enforce laws or quell rebellions using the armed forces.