US Pentagon orders troops to prepare for potential Minnesota deployment

Arctic specialist troops would join 3,000 federal immigration agents patrolling Minneapolis and St Paul amid protests.A person holds an upside-down US flag during a protest outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building on Saturday, in Minneapolis [Yuki Iwamura/AP Photo]Published On 19 Jan 2026The Pentagon in the United States has ordered some 1,500 active duty soldiers in Alaska to be ready to be deployed to Minnesota, where large protests have been taking place against federal immigration raids, US media reported.Two unnamed officials told Reuters on Sunday that two infantry battalions from the Army’s 11th Airborne Division, which is based in Alaska and specialises in operating in arctic conditions, have been given prepare-to-deploy orders to the twin cities of Minneapolis and St Paul, where protests against raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers are continuing, despite freezing conditions.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4Minneapolis mayor says reported DOJ probe ‘intimidation’ amid ICE raidslist 2 of 4US judge orders curbs on ICE agents’ actions against Minnesota protesterslist 3 of 4Anti-ICE protesters chase anti-Islam ‘influencer’ Jake Lang in Minneapolislist 4 of 4Anti-ICE rally chases off US far-right influencer Jake Lang in Minneapolisend of listIn a statement emailed to The Associated Press news agency, Pentagon chief spokesman Sean Parnell did not deny that the orders were issued and said the military “is always prepared to execute the orders of the Commander-in-Chief if called upon.”ABC News was the first to report the development.The news comes as widespread protests continue in the twin cities of Minneapolis and St Paul against violent tactics used by close to 3,000 federal ICE agents deployed to the city, following the shooting death of Minneapolis resident and mother Renee Nicole Good, 37.Multiple people have been injured as the raids continue, with ICE also reporting on Sunday that a man had died in ICE detention after being arrested in Minneapolis.Victor Manuel Diaz, a 36-year-old from Nicaragua, died in ICE custody at Camp East Montana in El Paso, Texas, on Sunday afternoon, 12 days after he was arrested in Minneapolis, ICE said in a statement.The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which is also part of the federal operation in Minnesota, said that a federal officer shot a Venezuelan man in the leg on Wednesday as the immigration raids continued.The Minneapolis Fire Department also said that a six-month-old baby and a child were hospitalised on Wednesday after they sustained injuries from tear gas deployed by ICE agents, according to Minnesota Public Radio (MPR).ICE director Todd M Lyons said on Wednesday that US federal agents had arrested 2,500 people since starting their operation in Minnesota.However, human rights advocates and legal observers have expressed concerns about overcrowding and inhumane conditions in the country’s immigration detention facilities, as well as on deportation flights.Hundreds of Venezuelan men were deported to the Centre for the Confinement of Terrorism (CECOT) maximum security prison in El Salvador in March 2025.An expose on CECOT, which was reportedly delayed from airing on CBS News’s 60 Minutes programme last month, prompting backlash, went to air on Sunday night.Minneapolis police officers charge at people who kneel in front of them during an anti-ICE protest outside the Whipple Federal Building, in Fort Snelling, Minnesota, on January 15 [Plga Fedorova/EPA]Insurrection ActThe potential deployment of troops to Minnesota comes after the Pentagon sent some 700 US Marines to Los Angeles in June and July in response to protests over aggressive immigration enforcement operations under way there, although the soldiers’ role was limited to guarding two federal properties in the greater Los Angeles area.At the time, Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act, a law from 1807, to broaden the soldiers’ role, but ultimately did not do so.Trump has again threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act in recent days, this time in Minnesota, before appearing to walk back the threat a day later, telling reporters at the White House that there was not a reason to use it “right now”.“If I needed it, I’d use it,” Trump said. “It’s very powerful.”Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey on Sunday described the 3,000 ICE and border control agents waging Trump’s crackdown on undocumented immigrants as an “occupying force that has, quite literally, invaded our city”.“It’s ridiculous, but we will not be intimidated by the actions of this federal government,” Frey told CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday. “It is not fair, it’s not just, and it’s completely unconstitutional.”Thousands of Minneapolis citizens are exercising their First Amendment rights, and the protests have been peaceful, Frey said, referring to the section of the US Constitution that covers freedom of speech and the right to peacefully protest.Governor Tim Walz has also mobilised the Minnesota National Guard, although no units have been deployed to the streets.Meanwhile, US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem has said that the crackdown will continue “until we are sure that all the dangerous people are picked up, brought to justice and then deported back to their home countries”.