The Pentagon has placed about 1,500 active-duty soldiers in Alaska on prepare-to-deploy orders in case violence escalates in Minnesota amid protests against the government's deportation drive, two US officials said on Sunday.
The orders come after increasing tensions in Minneapolis following the fatal shooting of Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother of three, by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer Jonathan Ross on 7 January. The Trump administration has called the shooting justified.
President Donald Trump has threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act to deploy military forces if Democratic officials do not stop protesters from impeding immigration officers. The city's mayor, Jacob Frey, described any military deployment as 'ridiculous', telling NBC News: 'We don't need more federal agents to keep people safe. We are safe.'
On Saturday, a rally organised by Jake Lang, a Christian nationalist pardoned by Trump for assaulting police officers during the Capitol riot, drew only five participants and was met by hundreds of counter-protesters. Lang was covered in aerosol string and doused with water before being chased off.
ICE agents have been targeting immigrant communities in the Twin Cities, including Somali and Hmong residents. On Sunday, agents entered a home in St Paul and removed an elderly Hmong man in his underwear, drawing shouts from onlookers.
Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said, 'The Department of War is always prepared to execute the orders of the commander-in-chief if called upon.' It remains unclear whether the Trump administration will formally invoke the Insurrection Act or deploy the troops.
