WASHINGTON – The Pentagon has instructed approximately 1,500 active-duty soldiers to be on high alert for a potential deployment to Minnesota. This move is in response to an extensive immigration enforcement operation underway by federal authorities, according to two defense officials who spoke on Sunday.

The officials, who requested anonymity due to the sensitive nature of military strategies, revealed that two infantry battalions from the Army’s 11th Airborne Division have received orders to prepare for deployment. Based in Alaska, this division is adept at conducting operations in arctic environments.

One defense official indicated that the troops are ready to be deployed to Minnesota if President Donald Trump decides to invoke the Insurrection Act. This seldom-used legislation from the 19th century would permit the use of active duty military as a law enforcement force.

This development follows President Trump’s recent threats to use such measures to quell protests against his administration’s immigration policies.

In a statement via email, Pentagon chief spokesperson Sean Parnell did not refute the issuance of these orders, asserting that 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 also 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 Governor 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.