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The Pentagon has ordered astir 1,500 active-duty soldiers to hole for a imaginable deployment to Minnesota, the tract of ample protests against the government's deportation drive, U.S. media reported connected Sunday (January 18, 2026).
The service placed the units connected prepare-to-deploy orders successful lawsuit unit successful the bluish State escalates, the Washington Post reported, citing unnamed defence officials, adding that it is not wide whether immoderate of them volition beryllium sent.
The White House told the Post successful a connection that it is emblematic for the Pentagon “to beryllium prepared for immoderate determination the President whitethorn oregon whitethorn not make.” The Pentagon and the White House did not instantly respond to requests from Reuters for comment.
President Donald Trump threatened connected Thursday (January 15, 2026) to usage the Insurrection Act to deploy subject forces if officials successful the State bash not halt protesters from targeting migration officials aft a surge successful Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
Threat of troops follows surge of migration agents
"If the corrupt politicians of Minnesota don’t obey the instrumentality and halt the nonrecreational agitators and insurrectionists from attacking the Patriots of I.C.E., who are lone trying to bash their job, I volition institute the INSURRECTION ACT," Mr. Trump posted connected his Truth Social platform.
The soldiers taxable to deployment specialise successful cold-weather operations and are assigned to 2 U.S. Army infantry battalions nether the 11th Airborne Division, which is based successful Alaska, the Post and ABC News reported.
Confrontations betwixt residents and national officers person go progressively tense in Minneapolis, Minnesota's most-populous city, aft an ICE cause fatally changeable Renee Good, a U.S. national and parent of three, connected January 7, 2026 arsenic she was driving away aft being ordered to exit her car.
Mr. Trump, a Republican, has sent astir 3,000 national agents from ICE and Border Patrol to Minneapolis and neighboring St. Paul since aboriginal past week, arsenic portion of a question of interventions, mostly to cities tally by Democratic politicians.
He has said unit deployments successful Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Memphis and Portland, Oregon, are indispensable to combat transgression and support national spot and unit from protesters. But this period helium said helium was removing the National Guard from Chicago, Los Angeles and Portland, which person faced ineligible setbacks and challenges.
Local leaders person accused the president of national overreach and of exaggerating isolated episodes of unit to warrant sending successful troops.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, against whom the Justice Department has opened a transgression investigation, has mobilised the State's National Guard to enactment section instrumentality enforcement and exigency absorption agencies, the authorities Department of Public Safety posted connected X connected Saturday (january 17, 2026).
Mr. Trump has repeatedly invoked a ungraded astir the theft of national funds intended for social-welfare programs successful Minnesota arsenic a rationale for sending migration agents in. The President and medication officials person repeatedly singled retired the State's assemblage of Somali immigrants.
The Insurrection Act is simply a national instrumentality that gives the President the powerfulness to deploy the subject oregon federalise National Guard troops wrong the U.S. to quell home uprisings.
The instrumentality tin beryllium invoked erstwhile determination are "unlawful obstructions, combinations oregon assemblages oregon rebellion" against national authority. If the President deems those conditions person been met, helium whitethorn use the equipped forces to instrumentality actions "to enforce those laws oregon suppress the rebellion.
