Several news outlets reported on Sunday that the Pentagon has directed approximately 1,500 active-duty troops to prepare for a possible deployment to Minnesota.
The order, initially reported by , follows days after President Donald Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act to quell protests that erupted in the wake of the killing of Minneapolis woman Renee Good by an immigration agent.
However, Trump later told reporters he didn’t believe there was “any reason right now to use it,”
Sean Parnell, Chief Pentagon Spokesman, told TIME in an emailed response to a question about the potential deployment: “The Department of War is always ready to carry out the orders of the Commander-in-Chief if called upon.”
The soldiers said to be on standby are from the 11th Airborne Division, which is based in Alaska and specializes in Arctic warfare.
Active-duty soldiers are prohibited from performing domestic law enforcement duties unless the president invokes the Insurrection Act—a step not taken since 1992, when George H.W. Bush sent troops to Los Angeles at the California governor’s request to handle riots that broke out after a jury acquitted four police officers filmed beating Rodney King.
Deploying active-duty troops to put down protests would represent a sharp escalation in Trump’s use of force in Democratic-run cities during his second term. This use of force has been paired with federal prosecutions of elected Democratic politicians and from Democratic cities.
Local city and state leaders have stated they do not want or need federal troops or agents in the city. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, a Democrat, said Sunday that deploying the U.S. military to manage protests would be a “shocking step.”
Democratic Minnesota Governor Tim Walz also called for calm.
“I’m making a direct appeal to the President: Let’s lower the temperature. Stop this campaign of retribution. This is not who we are,” Walz said in a social media post.
According to news reports, Trump’s Department of Justice (DOJ) launched criminal investigations into both Walz and Frey this week over comments they made about the protests.
The Trump Administration has already sent 3,000 Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol agents to respond to largely peaceful protests in Minneapolis. During these protests, federal agents have been accused of excessive force, using pepper spray, and , including against U.S. citizens.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a 72-page lawsuit on behalf of three people alleging that ICE violated citizens’ constitutional rights in Minnesota and relied on racial profiling in its crackdown on protesters.
“Thousands of masked federal agents are violently stopping and arresting countless Minnesotans based on nothing more than their race and perceived ethnicity—regardless of their citizenship or immigration status, or their personal circumstances,” the lawsuit reads.
Trump has deployed National Guard troops several times during his second term, including to Los Angeles in June 2025 and Washington, D.C., in August 2025. The President also sent 700 U.S. Marines to Los Angeles during protests against immigration raids there, though the soldiers were tasked with protecting federal property.