The Pentagon has ordered about 1,500 active-duty soldiers in Alaska to prepare for a potential deployment to Minnesota, where large protests have erupted amid the federal government’s stepped-up deportation effort, according to two U.S. officials.
The Army issued “prepare-to-deploy” orders in case violence escalates, the officials said. It remains unclear whether any of the troops will ultimately be sent.
President Donald Trump said Thursday he could invoke the Insurrection Act if state officials do not stop protesters from targeting federal immigration personnel following a surge in Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations. However, even if troops are deployed, it is not yet clear whether the administration would rely on the Insurrection Act. A president can also send active-duty forces for limited domestic roles, such as protecting federal property—an argument Trump cited when he sent Marines to Los Angeles last year.
The Pentagon could also seek to activate newly created National Guard rapid-response forces for civil unrest, the officials added.
The Pentagon and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment. ABC News first reported the order.
Threat of troops follows surge of immigration agents
“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,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
The troops placed on alert specialize in cold-weather operations and belong to two Army infantry battalions assigned to the 11th Airborne Division, based in Alaska, the officials said.
Tensions have risen sharply in Minneapolis after an ICE agent fatally shot Renee Good, a U.S. citizen and mother of three, on January 7, as she drove away after being ordered to exit her car.
Since early last week, Trump has sent nearly 3,000 federal agents from ICE and Border Patrol to Minneapolis and neighboring St. Paul, part of a wider series of interventions largely focused on cities led by Democratic officials. Trump has argued that recent deployments—including to Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Memphis, and Portland, Oregon—are needed to fight crime and protect federal property and personnel from protesters. Earlier this month, he said he was pulling National Guard forces from Chicago, Los Angeles, and Portland after legal setbacks and challenges.
Local leaders have accused the administration of federal overreach and of using isolated incidents of violence to justify military involvement.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, who is facing a Justice Department criminal investigation, has mobilized the state’s National Guard, opens new tab to support local law enforcement and emergency management agencies, according to a state Department of Public Safety post on X on Saturday.
Trump has also pointed to a scandal involving the theft of federal funds meant for social-welfare programs in Minnesota as part of his rationale for intensifying immigration enforcement in the state. The president and other administration officials have also singled out Minnesota’s Somali immigrant community.
The Insurrection Act is a federal law that gives the president authority to deploy the military—or federalize National Guard forces inside the United States—to respond to domestic uprisings.
