Trump admin preparing 1,500 soldiers for potential Minnesota deployment: report
President Donald Trump‘s administration is preparing 1,500 troops for potential deployment to Minnesota, a senior U.S. official confirmed to Fox News Digital.
The official says the U.S. Army’s 11th Airborne Division, which is based in Alaska and specializes in cold-weather and mountain warfare, has given prepare to deploy orders. The Washington Post was first to report the Pentagon’s readiness.
Trump on Thursday threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act to deploy U.S. military forces to Minnesota if state officials do not start cracking down on anti-ICE agitators.
“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.
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Minneapolis and St. Paul are already hosting some 3,000 federal agents deployed there after a massive fraud scandal rocked the state late last year.
Protesters across the Twin Cities have followed and harassed federal agents as they carry out operations, leading to confrontations and the killing of activist Renee Nicole Good by federal agents in the opening days of January.
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Trump toned down the pressure in a statement on Friday, saying he did not see at that point a reason to invoke the Insurrection Act.
“I believe it was Bush, the elder Bush, he used it, I think 28 times,” Trump told reporters while departing the White House. “It’s been used a lot. And if I needed it, I’d use it. I don’t think there’s any reason right now to use it, but if I needed it, I’d use it. It’s very powerful.”
The readiness order for the 11th Airborne Division was given prior to the Friday statement.
The Insurrection Act reportedly has not been invoked since the 1992 Los Angeles riots, which began after four police officers were acquitted in the beating of Rodney King.
Despite Trump’s threat, some Republicans are resistant to the idea of using the centuries-old law.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., seemed to downplay Trump’s threat, placing his hope in local law enforcement’s ability to “settle things down.”
“Hopefully the local officials working with not only the federal law enforcement, ICE and other agencies, but also the local law enforcement officials, will be able to settle things down,” Thune told reporters.
Fox News’ Louis Casiano contributed to this report.
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