Trump orders 1,500 active-duty Army soldiers to prepare for Minnesota deployment

Roughly 1,500 active-duty soldiers are reportedly preparing for possible deployment in Minnesota following Donald Trump’s threats to invoke the Insurrection Act to crush protests against a surge of federal immigration officers in the state.

Service members are assigned to two infantry battalions with the Army’s 11th Airborne Division, which is based in Alaska and trained for cold-weather operations, according to The Washington Post, citing defense officials. ABC News first reported the move Saturday.

Pentagon officials said troops have been placed on alert to respond to potentially escalating violence in the Minneapolis area, describing the move as “prudent planning.”

The president has repeatedly suggested he could deploy active-duty military against Americans after demonstrations escalated in the wake of the killing of Renee Good, who was fatally shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer earlier this month. The president has labeled protesters “professional agitators and insurrectionists” in a state run by “corrupt politicians” his Department of Justice is also investigating over what critics have labeled spurious obstruction allegations.

The rarely invoked 19th century law would allow the president to dispatch active-duty troops and federalize National Guard service members to occupy a state and city led by Democratic officials and his political opponents.

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