The military’s Northern Command has taken more than 1,500 active-duty troops in Alaska and North Carolina off heightened alert for possible deployment to Minnesota, a U.S. official said on Monday on condition of anonymity to discuss operational matters.
The infantry soldiers and military police were told last month to prepare for a possible deployment to the state, where President Trump had threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act as a response to protests there against the Jan. 7 killing of a Minneapolis woman by a federal immigration officer.
But the shooting death by immigration officers of a second U.S. citizen, Alex Pretti, on Jan. 24 galvanized public sentiment against the federal government’s tactics and forced the administration to retreat. Over the weekend, Northern Command quietly ordered the active-duty troops on standby to stand down.
Eric Schmitt is a national security correspondent for The Times. He has reported on U.S. military affairs and counterterrorism for more than three decades.
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