The Pentagon has ordered about 1,500 active-duty soldiers to prepare for a possible deployment to Minnesota, the site of large protests against the government's deportation drive, U.S. media reported on Sunday. Local leaders have accused the president of federal overreach and of exaggerating isolated episodes of violence to justify sending in troops. Trump has repeatedly invoked a scandal around the theft of federal funds intended for social-welfare programs in Minnesota as a rationale for sending immigration agents in. The Insurrection Act is a federal law that gives the president the power to deploy the military or federalize National Guard troops inside the U.S. to quell domestic uprisings. The law can be invoked when there are "unlawful obstructions, combinations or assemblages or rebellion" against federal authority.

Source: The Telegraph January 18, 2026 10:21 UTC