The US Pentagon has ordered about 1,500 active-duty soldiers based in Alaska to prepare for possible deployment to Minnesota, where large-scale protests have erupted against federal immigration raids, according to US media reports.
Two US officials told Reuters on Sunday that two infantry battalions from the Army’s 11th Airborne Division, which is stationed in Alaska and specialises in operations in Arctic conditions, have received prepare-to-deploy orders for the Minneapolis St Paul area.
Protests against raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have continued in the twin cities despite freezing temperatures.
In a statement to The Associated Press, Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell did not deny the reports, saying the military “is always prepared to execute the orders of the commander-in-chief if called upon.”
The development comes as demonstrations intensify in Minneapolis and St Paul over what protesters describe as aggressive tactics by nearly 3,000 federal ICE agents deployed to the area.
The protests followed the fatal shooting of Minneapolis resident and mother of one, Renee Nicole Good, 37.
Several people have been injured during the ongoing raids. ICE also confirmed on Sunday that a man died while in ICE custody after being arrested in Minneapolis.
The agency said Victor Manuel Diaz, a 36-year-old Nicaraguan national, died on Sunday afternoon at Camp East Montana in El Paso, Texas, 12 days after his arrest in Minneapolis.
The US Department of Homeland Security said a federal officer shot a Venezuelan man in the leg on Wednesday as immigration enforcement operations continued.
The Minneapolis Fire Department reported that a six-month-old baby and a child were hospitalised the same day after being exposed to tear gas deployed by ICE agents, according to Minnesota Public Radio.
ICE Director Todd M Lyons said on Wednesday that federal agents had arrested about 2,500 people since the start of the Minnesota operation.
Human rights groups and legal observers have raised concerns over overcrowding, inhumane conditions in immigration detention centres and the treatment of detainees during deportation flights.
In March 2025, hundreds of Venezuelan men were deported to El Salvador’s Centre for the Confinement of Terrorism (CECOT), a maximum-security prison. A delayed investigative report on the facility aired on CBS News’ 60 Minutes on Sunday, following public criticism over the postponement.
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