Trump Orders Active Duty Troops To Prepare For Minnesota Deployment

The Pentagon has ordered about 1,500 active duty soldiers in Alaska to prepare for a potential deployment to Minnesota, two defense officials confirmed Sunday.

The two battalions, which are with the 11th Airborne Division, would likely be joined by other troops from units across the country that would provide logistic and other support, according to one of the officials, both of whom were granted anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

The two infantry battalions in Alaska are trained to operate in the Arctic and across the Indo-Pacific, top priorities for the Trump administration. They’re not trained for crowd control situations, but they are equipped to operate in cold conditions, which would be useful in Minnesota.

The troops have not yet been ordered to deploy, but the move signals a potentially more harder-line approach by the White House after President Donald Trump has threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act to quell growing protests in Minneapolis.

While the president has threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act to quell the protests in Minnesota that sprung up in the wake of ICE officers shooting two civilians — one fatally — in Minneapolis this month, Trump on Friday said there was no reason to invoke the law “right now.”

ABC News first reported the potential deployment.

Appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, Minneapolis Mayor Jocob Frey said any such deployment of active-duty troops “would be a shocking step,” pointing out that crime is down in Minneapolis and “we don't need more federal agents to keep people safe.”

Frey said that the protests and unrest are coming in response to thousands of ICE agents stopping people on the street and demanding proof of citizenship.

“You know what's causing more chaos? Having these thousands of ICE agents and Border Control and apparently military, even, potentially on our streets,” Frey said.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, who like Frey has criticized the presence of federal troops in the Midwestern state, has mobilized the Minnesota National Guard to support local law enforcement, but he has not deployed those troops.

Asked to comment on the possibility of the Trump administration deploying active-duty troops, Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said that “the Department of War is always prepared to execute the orders of the Commander-in-Chief if called upon.” A White House official added that “it’s typical for the Department of War to be prepared for any decision the President may or may not make.”

Tensions have flared between federal and state officials ever since an ICE agent killed Renee Good, an American citizen, this month and wounded a Venezuelan migrant, Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, while attempting to detain him. The Department of Homeland Security defended the agents in both cases, saying that they were being threatened, but Democrats and local officials have disputed their characterization and maintained that the agents shouldn’t have been in Minneapolis in the first place.

Trump has sent in federal troops despite Democratic opposition before. In June, Trump deployed 4,000 Guard members to Los Angeles over the objections of Gov. Gavin Newsom, along with a battalion of about 700 active-duty infantry Marines during anti-ICE protests.

Trump also has deployed more than 2,600 members of the National Guard to Washington D.C. last year and recently extended that mission through the end of 2026.