Minneapolis Won't Be 'Intimidated,' Mayor Frey Says As Pentagon Readies 1,500 Troops

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said Sunday that his city will not be "intimidated" by President Donald Trump after reports that the Pentagon ordered 1,500 active-duty soldiers to prepare for a possible deployment to Minnesota.

Background

According to media reports, the Pentagon directive follows President Trump’s threat to invoke the Insurrection Act amid protests prompted by the ICE shooting of Renee Good on Jan. 7. Officials say the troops were placed on readiness status, but no federal deployment to Minneapolis has been announced.

Speaking on CNN’s State of the Union, Frey described the Pentagon order as "clearly" intended to intimidate Minneapolis residents.

"We will not counter Donald Trump's chaos with our own brand of chaos here," Frey said. "We're not going to give them an excuse to do the thing that clearly they're trying to set up to do right now, which is these 1,500 troops."

On ABC’s This Week, Frey said there are already "five times as many ICE agents in Minneapolis as there are police officers," and accused the administration of seeking an "excuse" to send additional federal personnel to the city.

"I never thought in a million years that we would be invaded by our own federal government," Frey told CNN’s Jake Tapper.

Tensions And Local Response

Tensions between the White House and Minnesota Democrats — including Mayor Frey and Gov. Tim Walz — have been high since Good’s death. The administration and state leaders have exchanged sharp public criticisms, and reports indicate the Justice Department is probing aspects of the dispute involving the two leaders.

Despite frigid temperatures, Minnesota residents have repeatedly taken to the streets to protest the presence of immigration officials. Gov. Walz has mobilized the state’s National Guard, although officials say no Guard troops have been deployed to Minneapolis as of this report.

Frey expressed concern about a possible clash between state and federal law enforcement, warning of the dangers if two levels of government were to confront each other directly.

"We cannot be at a place right now in America where we have two governmental entities that are literally fighting one another," he said. Frey added that the "very clear antidote" to the unrest would be for ICE to leave Minneapolis. "Let us live in peace," he said.