Two battalions ordered to prepare to deploy to Minnesota to support illegal-immigrant operation, U.S. official says
Two infantry battalions with the Army’s Alaska-based 11th Airborne Division reportedly are on standby for possible deployment to Minnesota. That’s according to reports from NPR and other U.S. and international news outlets.
NPR reports that a U.S. official has confirmed that up to 1,500 U.S. active-duty troops in Alaska have been ordered to prepare to deploy to Minnesota. That’s amid the unrest there over a massive federal immigration-enforcement operation in the state.
The 11th Airborne specializes in Arctic conditions and mountainous terrain, according to the division’s website.
An 11th Airborne spokesperson in the division’s headquarters at Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson declined to respond Tuesday to KUAC’s queries and referred all questions to the White House press office.
But the press office didn’t pick up the phone after multiple calls on Tuesday. And they didn’t respond to emailed queries sent Monday and Tuesday.
Democratic state Senator Scott Kawasaki of Fairbanks co-chairs the Legislature’s Joint House-Senate Armed Services Committee. And he has questions about the possible deployment.
“We want to know,” he said, “ I think we deserve to know, if these 1,500 soldiers that are stationed here in Alaska -- how long they're going be gone away from their families and for what purpose.”
Kawasaki said in a phone interview Tuesday that the committee usually deals with issues involving the Alaska National Guard. But he said the prospect of this deployment is troubling.
“ I mean, it’s sort of a shocking use of force and a shocking use of our armed services, to have this happen,” he said. “ … To have these federalized forces descend upon another state seems, I mean, pretty completely out there and really should have some thought to it.”
Kawasaki said Tuesday in a text to KUAC that members of the Joint House-Senate Armed Services Committee will be talking about the possible deployment in Juneau " to get clarity about the siutation, even though it is a federal issue and we have limited ability to compel testimony."
NPR reports that the prepare-to-deploy orders came days after Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act to suppress ongoing protests over the immigration-enforcement surge in Minneapolis. That rarely used law would allow him to employ active-duty troops, like the 11th Airborne, to support the law-enforcement operation.
Joe Plesha is an aide to Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski. And he said in a statement texted to KUAC on Tuesday that their office is seeking additional information on the apparent orders, but had not received any as of Tuesday afternoon.
Plesha added that, “Given the importance of Arctic security, including threats from Russia, Senator Murkowski believes we need to be strategic in how we task the 11th Airborne.”
Senator Dan Sullivan said in a Sunday interview with Alaska news outlet Your Alaska Link that he’s "hoping that the temperature in Minnesota can be lowered, among both sides, so the president doesn’t have to use this option."
Editor's note: This story has been updated.
