© Mostafa Bassim/Anadolu/Getty ImagesFederal Agents stand guard outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility during a protest against ICE following the fatal shooting of Renee Good, a 37-year-old woman by a U.S. immigration agent, in Minneapolis, United States, on Jan. 8, 2026.
The army placed the units on prepare-to-deploy orders in case violence in the midwestern state escalates, the officials said, though it is not clear whether any of them will be sent.
President Donald Trump threatened on Thursday to use the Insurrection Act to deploy military forces if officials in the state do not stop protesters from targeting immigration officials after a surge in Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
But if the troops are deployed, it is unclear whether the Trump administration would invoke the Insurrection Act. Even without invoking the act, a president can deploy active-duty forces for certain domestic purposes such as protecting federal property, which Trump cited as a justification for sending Marines to Los Angeles last year.
In addition to the active-duty forces, the Pentagon could also attempt to deploy newly created National Guard rapid-response forces for civil disturbances.
The Pentagon and the White House did not immediately respond to requests from Reuters for comment on the order, which was first reported by ABC News.
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 posted on his Truth Social platform.
The soldiers subject to deployment specialize in cold-weather operations and are assigned to two U.S. Army infantry battalions under the 11th Airborne Division, which is based in Alaska, the officials said.
Confrontations between residents and federal officers have become increasingly tense in Minneapolis, Minnesota's most-populous city, after an ICE agent fatally shot Renee Good, a U.S. citizen and mother of three, on January 7 as she was driving away after being ordered to exit her car.
Trump, a Republican, has sent nearly 3,000 federal agents from ICE and Border Patrol to Minneapolis and neighboring St. Paul since early last week, as part of a wave of interventions, mostly to cities run by Democratic politicians.
He has said troop deployments in Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Memphis and Portland, Oregon, are necessary to fight crime and protect federal property and personnel from protesters. But this month he said he was removing the National Guard from Chicago, Los Angeles and Portland, which have faced legal setbacks and challenges.
Local leaders have accused the president of federal overreach and of exaggerating isolated episodes of violence to justify sending in troops.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, against whom the Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation, has mobilized the state's National Guard to support local law enforcement and emergency management agencies, the state Department of Public Safety posted on X on Saturday.
Trump has repeatedly invoked a scandal around the theft of federal funds intended for social-welfare programs in Minnesota as a rationale for sending in immigration agents. The president and administration officials have singled out the state's community of Somali immigrants.
Comment: Possibly because Somali immigrants are committing 90% of the fraud in Minnesota?
- DOJ: 47 in Minnesota's Somali community charged with stealing $250M in COVID-19 funds from child nutrition program
- Somali refugee who ran public housing agency admits to stealing millions in Minneapolis
- Funding fraud: Bombshell report exposes network of Somali-linked "empty" daycares across Minnesota
- Massive Minnesota fraud scandal involving Somali immigrants fuels GOP attacks on welfare, immigration policies
- The Somali patronage system has infiltrated Minnesota politics
The Insurrection Act is a federal law that gives the president the power to deploy the military or federalize National Guard troops inside the U.S. to quell domestic uprisings.
Reader Comments
I go with some commentators inside the US, who suggest Trump need to quell this conflict, or agent provocateurs all across different states feel encouraged and initiate a civil war.
You can thank the high traitors Obama, Biden, the Clintons, Kamala, and their underlings.
However, I usually there is only a relatively small percentage of proper "fighters" with combat experience amongst them. Those can be eliminated relatively quickly, especially when they are identified and tracked. More than 80% would be followers, of which about half can usually identify the business end of a firearm.
The idea here is to discourage the potential followers by swift action, to avoid a larger bloodshed.
Gone are the days of 2 points of view reporting.
It is the lies and tricks of politicians who have ruined america, not the immigrants. Most of whom came to work for a better life and were invited in by previous USadmins.
The last time america had a mass immigration policy was last century just before the two most devastating world wars in history. They needed these european migrants to fill low paying jobs and uniforms.
Money from this day care scam was being flown out of the country in suitcases by the million. TSA employees knew this was going on but were told to stand down. Standing down crucial security seems to be a favourite with regimes.