The Pentagon has ordered about 1,500 active-duty soldiers in Alaska to prepare for deployment to Minnesota, where large-scale protests against federal raids on immigrants have been occurring, according to US media reports.
Two unnamed officials told Reuters on Sunday that two infantry battalions from the Army’s 11th Airborne Division, which is based in Alaska and specializes in operations in the Arctic, had been ordered to prepare for deployment to the twin cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Protests against attacks by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents continue in both cities despite frigid conditions.
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In a statement emailed to The Associated Press, Pentagon chief spokesman Sean Parnell did not deny that the order had been issued, but said the military “stands ready to carry out the commander-in-chief’s orders whenever requested.”
ABC News first reported the development.
The news comes amid widespread protests in the twin cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul over the violent tactics of the nearly 3,000 federal ICE agents deployed to the city after the shooting death of 37-year-old Minneapolis mother Renee Nicole Good.
Multiple people were injured as the investigation continued, and ICE also reported Sunday that a man arrested in Minneapolis died in ICE custody.
Victor Manuel Diaz, 36, of 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 Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which is also participating in the federal operation in Minnesota, said Wednesday that federal agents shot a Venezuelan man in the leg as the raid continued.
The Minneapolis Fire Department also announced that a 6-month-old infant and child were injured by ICE agents’ tear gas and hospitalized Wednesday, according to Minnesota Public Radio (MPR).
ICE Director Todd M. Lyons said Wednesday that U.S. federal agents have arrested 2,500 people since they began operations in Minnesota.
But human rights defenders and legal observers have raised concerns about overcrowding and inhumane conditions in the country’s immigration detention facilities and deportation flights.
In March 2025, hundreds of Venezuelan men were deported to El Salvador’s maximum security prison, the Center for the Confinement of Terrorism (CECOT).
An exposé about CECOT, which was reportedly delayed and sparked backlash on CBS News’ 60 Minutes program last month, aired Sunday night.
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possibility The deployment of troops to Minnesota comes after the Pentagon sent about 700 U.S. Marines to the state. The soldiers visited Los Angeles in June and July in response to protests against aggressive immigration enforcement in the city, but their role was limited to guarding two federal facilities in the Los Angeles metropolitan area.
At the time, President Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807 to expand the role of soldiers, but ultimately did not do so.
Trump threatened again in recent days to invoke the Insurrection Act, this time in Minnesota, but appeared to backtrack on his threat a day later, telling reporters at the White House that there was no reason to invoke the Insurrection Act “right now.”
“If necessary, we will use it,” Trump said. “It’s very powerful.”
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey on Sunday described the 3,000 ICE and Border Patrol agents carrying out President Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration as “literally an occupation force that has invaded our city.”
“It’s ridiculous, but we’re not going to be intimidated by this federal action,” Frey told CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday. “This is not fair, it is not fair, and it is completely unconstitutional.”
Frey said thousands of Minneapolis residents were exercising their First Amendment rights and the protests were peaceful, citing provisions of the U.S. Constitution that provide for free speech and the right to peacefully protest.
Gov. Tim Walz has also activated the Minnesota National Guard, but no troops are on the streets.
Meanwhile, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the crackdown will continue “until we are confident that all dangerous individuals are arrested, brought to justice, and then deported to their home countries.”
