The Pentagon in the United States has ordered about 1,500 active duty soldiers from Alaska to be ready to deploy to Minnesota, where there have been massive protests over federal immigration raids, US media reported.
Two infantry battalions from the Army’s 11th Airborne Division, which is based in Alaska and specializes in operating in arctic conditions, have been ordered to deploy to the twin cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, where immigration and customs officials are resisting raids by NIC officers (Continence Force), two unnamed officials told Reuters on Sunday.
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In an emailed statement to The Associated Press, Pentagon chief spokesman Sean Parnell did not deny the order was issued, saying the military “always stands ready to carry out the orders of the commander-in-chief if called upon.”
ABC News was the first to report the development.
The news comes amid widespread protests in the twin cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul against violent tactics used by the nearly 3,000 federal ICE agents deployed in the city following the shooting death of Minneapolis resident and mother Renee Nicole Goode, 37.
Several people have been injured as the raids continue, with ICE also reporting Sunday that one person died in ICE custody after being arrested in Minneapolis.
Victor Manuel Diaz, 36, of Nicaragua, died Sunday afternoon in ICE custody at Camp East Montana in El Paso, Texas, 12 days after he was arrested in Minneapolis, ICE said in a statement.
The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which is part of a federal operation in Minnesota, said a federal officer shot a Venezuelan man in the leg on Wednesday during an immigration raid.
The Minneapolis Fire Department also said a six-month-old baby and a boy were hospitalized Wednesday after being injured by tear gas deployed by ICE agents, according to Minnesota Public Radio (MPR).
ICE Director Todd M. Lyons said Wednesday that US federal agents have arrested 2,500 people since they began their operation in Minnesota.
However, human rights lawyers and legal observers have raised concerns about this Overcrowding and inhumane conditions The country’s immigration detention facilities, as well as on deportation flights.
hundreds of The Venezuelan men were deported March 2025 to the Center for Confinement of Terrorism (CECOT) maximum security prison in El Salvador.
An expose on CECOT, which was Allegedly delayed Since airing on CBS News’ 60 Minutes program last month, the reaction has aired Sunday night.
Sedition Act
potential Troops were deployed in Minnesota after the Pentagon sent about 700 US Marines to In response to the protests, aggressive immigration enforcement operations continued in Los Angeles in June and July, although the troopers’ role was limited to guarding two federal properties in the greater Los Angeles area.
At the time, Trump threatened to invoke the Sedition Act, a law dating back to 1807, to broaden the role of soldiers, but ultimately did not.
Trump has threatened to appeal again Sedition Act In recent days, the White House told reporters there was no reason to use it “right now,” before returning to the threat a day later, this time in Minnesota.
“If I need it, I’ll use it,” Trump said. “That’s very powerful.”
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey on Sunday described the 3,000 ICE and Border Control agents that Trump has launched a crackdown on undocumented immigrants as “an occupying force that has literally invaded our city”.
“It’s ridiculous, but we’re not going to be intimidated by the actions of this federal government,” Frey told CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday. “It’s not fair, it’s just not, and it’s completely unconstitutional.”
Thousands of Minneapolis citizens are exercising their First Amendment rights and the protests are peaceful, Frey said, referring to the section of the U.S. Constitution that includes the right to free speech and peaceful protest.
Governor Tim Walz has also mobilized the Minnesota National Guard, though no troops have been deployed on the road.
Meanwhile, US Homeland Security Secretary Kristy Noem has said, “The crackdown will continue until we can ensure that all dangerous people are caught, brought to justice and then returned to their home countries”.