Pentagon readies 1,500 active duty military for Minneapolis deployment, sources say

Unnamed defense officials have told multiple media outlets that the Pentagon has put 1,500 active-duty soldiers on standby for a possible deployment to Minneapolis. AP reports that the soldiers in question are based in Alaska and trained for Arctic duty.

The reports come after weeks of intense but largely peaceful protests in Minneapolis following the killing of 37-year-old mother Renee Good by an ICE agent. President Trump has also recently threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act to forcibly put down the protests. The Insurrection Act is a rarely-used 1807 law that allows the president to deploy the US military domestically for law enforcement action.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz have repeatedly urged protesters to remain peaceful so as not to give Trump a pretext for sending in the military. “Do not take the bait. Do not allow them to deploy federal troops into here. Do not allow them to invoke the Insurrection Act,” Walz said last week. “Do not allow them to declare martial law. Do not allow them to lie about the security and the decency of this state”. Gov. Walz has readied the Minnesota National Guard to assist law enforcement if necessary, possibly as a way of heading off Trump’s intention of invoking the Insurrection Act.

Federal agents have responded to protests near federal buildings with tear gas, pepper spray, bean bag rounds and rubber bullets to attempt to disperse the crowds. Last week, a judge barred federal agents from using these measures against people protesting peacefully (the Trump administration is appealing to have the order lifted). Federal agents have arrested dozens of protesters, though reporters on the ground have said it is often unclear what the demonstrators had done to merit an arrest.

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