The Pentagon has ordered about 1,500 troops to prepare for a possible deployment to Minnesota, as the state reels from intensifying anti-ICE protests after the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good.
President Donald Trump has threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act in response to the unrest, and two battalions of the 11th Airborne Division were placed on prepare-to-deploy orders in case he does so, two defense officials told NBC News.
There is no indication the president will use the Insurrection Act beyond his public comments, and he told reporters Friday that he doesn’t think he needs to use it any more.
The news came as the Justice Department promised to investigate and bring possible federal charges against protesters who disrupted a service Sunday at a church in St. Paul, where the group believes a local U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office director is a pastor.
Footage from inside the Cities Church showed a group shouting “ICE out!” and chanting the name of Good, the woman shot dead by an ICE officer while in her car on a Minneapolis street Jan. 7.
David Easterwood is listed as a pastor and the director of discipleship on the church’s website, although he did not appear to be in the church at the time of the protest. The same David Easterwood also identified himself as acting field office director for enforcement and removal operations in St. Paul during a press conference with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in October.
ICE and the Justice Department have neither confirmed nor publicly commented on Easterwood’s role at the church. NBC News approached both agencies and the church for comment and had not received responses by the time of publication.
Attorney General Pam Bondi said on X that she had spoken with the church’s pastor and promised that “attacks against law enforcement and the intimidation of Christians are being met with the full force of federal law.”
She added that the DOJ would “remain mobilized to prosecute federal crimes” in Minnesota, a clear sign that the fractious multi-agency operation in the Twin Cities shows no signs of slowing.
The FBI has also asked agents based in offices around the United States to voluntarily travel to Minnesota to assist federal agencies there.
Minnesota has been embroiled in protests for weeks after more than 3,000 federal agents were deployed to the city — against the wishes of local leaders — in what the White House has said is an operation to root out local corruption and enforce immigration law.
Responding to reports of the possible troop deployment, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey told CNN on Sunday that such a move would be “not fair, it’s not just, and it’s completely unconstitutional.”
The church incident was livestreamed on YouTube by former CNN anchor Don Lemon, who left the network in 2023.
This prompted a response from Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon. “A house of worship is not a public forum for your protest! It is a space protected from exactly such acts by federal criminal and civil laws!” she said. “Nor does the First Amendment protect your pseudo journalism of disrupting a prayer service. You are on notice!”
Nekima Levy Armstrong, who participated in the protest and leads the local grassroots civil rights organization Racial Justice Network, told The Associated Press: “When you think about the federal government unleashing barbaric ICE agents upon our community and all the harm that they have caused, to have someone serving as a pastor who oversees these ICE agents, is almost unfathomable to me.”
St. Paul Public Schools has, meanwhile, said that it would provide a virtual learning facility for students who didn’t feel comfortable coming to school.
An ICE spokesperson said in response to this: “As we have repeatedly stated, DHS does not go to schools to arrest children.” The statement added that federal agents may, however, enter a school if a “dangerous or violent criminal illegal alien felon” was inside.
Some hotels in the Twin Cities are closing because of safety concerns related to the ongoing federal immigration crackdown.
The Mille Lacs Corporate Ventures board of directors said in a statement: “We have made the decision to temporarily suspend operations at two of our St. Paul hotels — Intercontinental St. Paul Riverfront and DoubleTree St. Paul Downtown — in response to elevated safety and security concerns.”
The Associated Press contributed.