|
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss
sensitive military plans, said two infantry battalions of the
Army’s 11th Airborne Division have been given prepare-to-deploy
orders. The unit is based in Alaska and specializes in operating
in arctic conditions.
One defense official said the troops are standing by to deploy
to Minnesota should President Donald Trump invoke the
Insurrection Act, a rarely used 19th century law that would
allow him to employ active duty troops as law enforcement.
The move comes just days after Trump threatened to do just that
to quell protests against his administration’s immigration
crackdown.
In an emailed statement, Pentagon chief spokesman Sean Parnell
did not deny the orders were issued and said the military "is
always prepared to execute the orders of the Commander-in-Chief
if called upon.”
ABC News was the first to report the development.
On Thursday, Trump said in a social media post that he would
invoke the 1807 law “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."
He appeared to walk back the threat a day later, telling
reporters at the White House that there wasn’t a reason to use
it “right now.”
“If I needed it, I’d use it,” Trump said. “It’s very powerful.”
Trump has repeatedly threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act
throughout both of his terms. In 2020 he threatened to use it to
quell protests after George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis
police, and in recent months he threatened to use it for
immigration protests.
The law was most recently invoked by President George H.W. Bush
in 1992 to end unrest in Los Angeles after the acquittal of four
white police officers in the beating of Rodney King.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat and frequent target of
Trump, has urged the president to refrain from sending in more
troops.
“I’m making a direct appeal to the President: Let’s turn the
temperature down. Stop this campaign of retribution. This is not
who we are,” Walz said last week on social media.
All contents © copyright 2026 Associated Press. All rights
reserved |
|
