The Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, which is one of the largest immigrant detention facilities in the western U.S. (Grace Deng/Washington State Standard)
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested an Alaska state attorney in Anchorage and is holding him in an ICE detention facility in Washington state, according to an agency spokesperson.
Shucheng Yang, a 32-year-old Chinese national, was arrested in Anchorage on July 10.
“Yang violated the terms of his admission and is a deportable alien,” said Jason Chudy, an ICE Public Affairs officer, by email on Thursday. He said Yang is currently detained in the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, Washington, pending immigration proceedings.
Yang is an attorney with the Alaska Department of Law’s labor, business and corporations section, according to the state employee database. Yang was admitted to the Alaska Bar Association and licensed to practice law in the state in June 2025. A spokesperson for the department declined to respond to questions about his immigration status, employment status or work authorization when hired, saying the department does not comment on personnel matters.
Chudy declined to say how Yang violated the terms of admission into the country. “To be clear, work authorization does NOT confer legal status in the United States,” he said in the email.
He referred further questions about Yang’s work authorization to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. A spokesperson for USCIS referred the question back to ICE, and said the agency does not comment on individual immigration cases.
The state requires applicants to self-disclose their employment eligibility and work authorization through the I-9 verification process during hiring, according to the Alaska Department of Administration, as reported by Alaska News Source.
There are no state criminal charges against Yang, according to court records. Yang pleaded no contest on June 26 for a speeding citation.
A spokesperson for the Municipality of Anchorage confirmed the Anchorage Police Department issued the traffic ticket on April 25. “They have had no other interaction with Mr. Yang since April,” said Nora Morse, communications director for the municipality, by email on Thursday.
“The Anchorage Police Department does not ask for someone’s immigration status as part of a routine traffic stop,” Morse said.
A spokesperson for the ACLU of Alaska said they were trying to get in touch with Yang’s attorney, and had no other information on his case.
The Alaska Department of Corrections contracts with ICE to hold detainees in Alaska under an agreement with the U.S. Marshals. A spokesperson confirmed that Yang was detained in Alaska for two days after his arrest until he was transferred on July 12.
DOC has held 17 people arrested by ICE since June 1, and 73 people since the beginning of the calendar year, according to spokesperson Betsy Holley on Thursday.
Alaska Organized Militia members from across the Alaska Army National Guard, and the Alaska State Defense Force, prepare for departure from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson as they travel to Bethel, Alaska, while supporting storm response operations, Oct. 13, 2025. (Alaska National Guard photo by Capt. Balinda O’Neal)
Alaska will deploy 25 National Guard soldiers and airmen to Washington D.C. this month, according to a Friday update from the Alaska Department of Military and Veteran Affairs.
The deployment is part of a response to President Trump’s August declaration of a “crime emergency” in the nation’s capital. In the nine months since, 2,500 troops remain, according to NBC4 Washington. Guard members have assisted with medical emergencies, arrests and beautification projects, as well as snow removal.
The division announcement said the Alaska service members will be focused on public safety: “Guard members provide support functions such as crowd management, perimeter security, and logistical and communications support.”
Alaska National Guard members will deploy for 60 days, according to the division, as part of a joint task force with the Metropolitan Police Department and federal law enforcement partners.
Gov. Mike Dunleavy approved a verbal request in November from the U.S. Secretary of the Army for Alaska to deploy 100 service members, following a national directive by the Pentagon to all 50 states to prepare National Guard service members to train for “civil disturbance operations.”
A spokesperson for Dunleavy’s office did not respond to a request for comment on the smaller deployment, the purpose and timing of the mission on Monday.
Lawmakers had raised concerns about the Pentagon’s national directive for an estimated 20,000 National Guard service members to be trained and prepared to deploy in U.S. cities within 24 hours. Alaska was initially charged with preparing 350 service members as part of a “quick reaction force” by Jan. 1.
Rep. Andrew Gray, D-Anchorage, co-chair of the Alaska Joint Armed Services Committee, and a veteran of the Alaska National Guard, was among those who had raised concerns.
On Monday, Gray said the smaller deployment for 60 days is less of an issue.
“I don’t think it’s in the best interest of the American taxpayer to be flying service members from Alaska to D.C. to do what I don’t believe is of grave consequence,” he said.
“At the end of the day, to me, it’s sort of a nothing burger. I do think that it shows that the Dunleavy administration and General (Torrence) Saxe are in alignment with Trump. They’re showing that they support Trump’s agenda. But again, this is just not that big of a deal, in my opinion.”
Rep. Andrew Gray, D-Anchorage, speaks Friday, April 26, 2024, on the floor of the Alaska House of Representatives. (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)
By: Corinne Smith, Alaska Beacon
Rep. Andrew Gray, D-Anchorage, speaks Friday, April 26, 2024, on the floor of the Alaska House of Representatives. (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)
The arrest of a Soldotna family by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, including two teens and a 5-year-old, has prompted a wave of concern and lawmakers to hold an investigatory hearing on Monday on the arrest and detention of minors in Alaska.
“As far as I am aware, the detention of children by ICE in Alaska is unprecedented,” said Rep. Andrew Gray, D-Anchorage, who chairs the House Judiciary Committee. In opening remarks, he questioned if federal agents provided full due process to the family and honored legal protections for children.
“Is Alaska about to see more children detained?” he asked.
ICE agents arrested Sonia Espinoza Arriaga at her home in Soldotna on Feb. 17, and apprehended her three children — ages 18, 16 and 5. Arriaga is married to an Alaskan U.S. citizen and was in court proceedings to gain asylum after fleeing violence in Mexico, according to news reports. The next day, Arriaga and her two younger children were deported to Jalisco, where they remain. The 18-year-old was transported and detained at the Anchorage Correctional Complex and transferred on Feb. 20 to a privately-run ICE detention facility in Tacoma, Washington, according to news reports.
The arrest comes as ICE operations are ramping up in Alaska and nationwide, amid the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. Gray noted the agency saw a historic funding increase last year and now has a budget of roughly $85 billion.
Anna Taylor with the Alaska Institute for Justice (top left), Rev. Michael Burke with St Mary’s Episcopal Church of Anchorage (top middle), Elora Mukherjee, a clinical professor of law at Columbia and director of the Immigrant Rights Clinic (top right), Rev. Meredith Harbor with the Christ Lutheran Church in Soldotna (bottom left), Rev. Lisa Adam Sherry with the Anchorage Unitarian Universalist Fellowship (bottom center), and Soldotna parent Alison Flack (bottom right) testified to the House Judiciary Committee on Feb. 23, 2026 on the recent ICE arrest of a Soldotna family and detention of minors in Alaska. (Screenshot of Gavel)
Members of the House Judiciary Committee put questions to officials with the Alaska Department of Corrections and Department of Public Safety on the extent of the state’s involvement in ICE operations and detention of minors. They also heard testimony from community members, attorneys and clergy expressing outrage and concern at ICE operations.
Gray said the committee had invited representatives from ICE and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to testify about the arrest and issues raised, but they declined to appear. He said his office has submitted a list of questions to the agencies, including questions about due process, and have not yet heard back.
Gray said his office will be drafting a committee resolution urging a change in federal policy, and said if ICE fails to answer the committee’s questions, the committee will “look at other options for compelling their testimony.”
State agencies questioned on policy around detaining minors and cooperation with ICE
Jen Winkelman, commissioner of DOC, said the department has an agreement with federal authorities to detain people arrested under federal charges, including with ICE for civil immigration charges.
“Does DOC detain minors?” Gray asked. Winkelman said no.
Winkelman did not say in the committee meeting whether DOC would hold children detained by ICE.
“We have the contract for the federal government to hold individuals that may come in in a non-criminal capacity,” Winkelman said. “When the ICE agents detain somebody, they will bring them to us, the individual and a piece of paper that essentially authorizes us to hold them.”
In the case of Arriaga, her husband, Alexander Sanchez-Ramos, told reporters that initially she and her two youngest children would be held in a hotel in Anchorage and guarded by federal agents, but then he learned they were flown to San Diego the same evening of their arrest, then driven to the Mexico border and deported.
ICE did not immediately respond to questions on Tuesday about the expedited deportation of the Arriaga family and plans and protocols for detaining minors and families in Alaska.
Gray said the committee had invited representatives from ICE and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to testify about the arrest and issues raised, but they declined to appear. He said his office has submitted a list of questions to the agencies, including questions about due process, and have not yet heard back.
Zane Nighswonger, director of institutions for DOC, told lawmakers that ICE detainees are held in state prisons, but are held separately.
“They’re basically subject to the same security measures we have for our prisoners. We do keep them separate from the prisoner population, as they’re non-criminally charged,” he said Monday. “They recreate separately from other prisoners, have access to their telephone calls separately from other prisoners, and then showers and things like that.”
Nighswonger said individuals arrested by ICE are typically held in Alaska jails and then transferred to federal detention facilities within 72 hours.
The Alaska State Troopers do not participate in ICE enforcement, Leon Morgan, deputy commissioner for the Alaska Department of Public Safety, told lawmakers on Monday. “We don’t coordinate with ICE for immigration enforcement,” he said.
Morgan said for criminal cases Troopers will work with federal partners, but not cases related to immigration enforcement. He said Troopers have a policy to mitigate effects of law enforcement actions when children are involved. “In terms of how ICE does their job, or what they do, that is just beyond or outside the scope of how we operate,” he said.
Rep. Chuck Kopp, R-Anchorage asked what state legislators can do to constrain ICE action in Alaska given federal authority outweighs state law.
Elora Mukherjee, a clinical professor of law at Columbia Law School and director of the Immigrant Rights Clinic, testified that lawmakers can not only speak out, raise concerns and demand answers from federal authorities, but states are also taking action to block ICE enforcement actions and developing new detention centers.
“I think your committee is doing exactly the right thing by inviting officials from the federal government, from ICE, from DHS, to testify about what is happening in Alaska,” she said. “Right now, it seems that in Alaska, as in many states across the country, the federal government does not want local and state legislators to know what they are doing.”
Advocates call arrests and detainments a ‘grave concern’
Attorneys and immigration advocates testified that the avenues for legal immigration are being cut back by the Trump administration at every level — from travel bans, to canceling visa and refugee programs, to petitioning to end birthright citizenship — resulting in more and more people being arrested and deported.
Arriaga had reportedly applied for and was in the process of obtaining asylum for her family. A spokesperson for ICE said she had failed to appear for a court hearing in January, prompting deportation, according to news reports.
Mukherjee testified that ICE is increasingly arresting and detaining children and families.
“From January to October 2025, at least 3,800 children under the age of 18, including 20 infants, were detained by US immigration authorities,” she said, and many are held beyond the legal limit of 20 days.
She spoke about her experience representing children and families held at the privately-run South Texas Family Detention Center in Dilley, Texas, and the traumatizing conditions of detention there.
“Among my other clients at Dilley have been a two year old boy who was breastfeeding in detention. A six year old boy had a leukemia diagnosis. An eight year old girl began wetting the bed. An 11 year old girl lost hearing in one year. A 14 year old girl engaged in self harm. All of these children and their parents were detained despite being eligible for release,” she said.
“ICE has the authority to release these families who are not flight risks on parole as they seek asylum and other forms of humanitarian protections in the United States,” she noted. “None of these children or their parents had a criminal history anywhere in the world.”
A Soldotna mother, Alison Flack, whose daughter attended kindergarten with Arriaga’s five-year-old, testified he was flourishing in school and learning English, and that the community is shaken by his arrest.
“We’re all now faced with the decision of what to tell our children,” she said. “Should I tell her that he moved and just hope and pray that she doesn’t find out the truth? Our state is better than this.
“I don’t want to tell my daughter that the grown-ups have done something so terrible, the ones she’s supposed to be able to trust,” she said.
Clergy members in Anchorage and Soldotna testified that the incident and actions from federal immigration authorities raise grave moral concerns.
“We believe there’s been a serious breach of what we as clergy leaders would consider basic sacred family values,” said Rev. Michael Burke, pastor of St. Mary’s Episcopal Church of Anchorage and speaking on behalf of a multi-faith group.
“We tore a family from their community rootedness in this recent event, and this harm that was done, potential harm to children that will have a lifetime memory of trauma was not caused by any bad actors other than those of the federal government themselves,” he said. “This raises grave concerns as a matter of policy, the rule of law and our fundamental ethical commitments to one another as members of the community.”
Erin Jackson-Hill outside the Capitol, speaking to a group of protestors
Protesters gathered outside the Alaska State Capitol this morning, calling on U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan to oppose what organizers described as growing authoritarianism at the federal level.
“Juneau for Democracy is a group of Juneau residents who get together in care and resistance.” Said Volunteer Anjali Grantham, “We really are a network of people trying to live our democracy and protect our democracy.”
The rally’s theme was “We the People Do Not Consent.” Participants held signs and delivered speeches criticizing Sullivan’s positions on immigration enforcement, federal spending and voting requirements.
“We are finished with the silence, we are finished with complicity, we demand a leader who will fight for us, we demand courage.” Said Erin Jackson-Hill of Stand up Alaska.
Grantham said protesters were urging Sullivan to support additional congressional oversight of immigration enforcement agencies and to oppose policies they believe undermine constitutional rights, such as the deployment of federal officers in U.S. cities, and increased funding for the Department of Homeland Security.
“We’re going to make sure that Sullivan knows it’s despicable that he has voiced support for the SAVE act.” Grantham said, this is federal legislation that would require voters to provide proof of citizenship, like a passport or birth certificate, to cast a ballot.
“Can you imagine what that would mean for Rural Alaskans? In addition to many women who have changed their name after getting married.” She said.
Voting by noncitizens has been found to be exceedingly rare nationwide and in Alaska.
“He’s an attorney, and he has not only watched but actually facilitated the erosion of our First Amendment rights, our Fourth Amendment rights, our Fifth Amendment rights and our Eighth Amendment rights. He’s a military officer, but he’s also justified the deployment of troops to U.S. cities. He’s a senator, and he’s totally abandoned the role of the legislative branch. He’s had the audacity to tell Alaskans that we should be grateful to the regime, meanwhile, the federal government has become predatory on its own people.” Grantham said.
The rally was held before Dan Sullivan delivered his annual speech to the Alaska Legislature.
“We want him to be someone who is standing against authoritarianism and not paving the way for authoritarianism.” she said.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem at a Nashville press conference on July 18, 2025, to discuss arrests of immigrants during recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement sweeps. (Photo by John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout)
Alaska’s senior Senator, Republican Lisa Murkowski, told reporters on Tuesday that Department of Homeland Security Kristi Noem should “probably” step down. Murkowski is one of a handful of Senate Republicans calling for further investigation into the killing of U.S. citizens by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement personnel and ICE conduct in Minneapolis.
She is the second Republican in the U.S. Senate, after Thom Tillis of North Carolina, to call for Noem’s resignation.
“She has, through her words — and I think in her actions — she’s taken a direction that has not been helpful to the situation, and I don’t think that it helps the country,” Murkowski said.
“Accountability goes all the way to the top, and I think you have a secretary right now that needs to be accountable to the chaos and in some of the tragedy that we have seen,” she added.
Her comments come after a massive surge of federal agents has been operating in Minneapolis as part of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. Their actions include an unknown number of arrests and two fatal shootings in three weeks, prompting widespread protests.
Murkowski voted to confirm Noem’s appointment last January. Noem faces mounting bipartisan criticism after House Democrats co-sponsored articles of impeachment against her.
Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan and Rep. Nick Begich III did not immediately respond to questions about Noem’s leadership from the Alaska Beacon on Tuesday.
Murkowski has not supported calls from a faction of progressive Democrats in Congress to defund the agency. She voted in support of the Republican-drafted budget package earlier this year that sent almost $85 billion to the agency, giving it a larger budget than the U.S. Marine Corps.
“You’ve got all these cries to say, ‘We can’t give another penny to ICE.’ Well, the fact of the matter is ICE has the resources that they will need. What it comes down to is: What are they doing with the money? And that’s where it comes to the management, that’s when it comes to who is controlling it, that’s when it comes to who is ultimately in charge and accountable,” she said.
Congressional response to ICE action in Minneapolis
Alaska’s congressional delegation is split in its response to the ICE action and the killing of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis over the weekend.
In a Sunday statement, Murkowski called for a “comprehensive, independent investigation” of the killing, which she said is necessary to build back public trust. Her statement called on Congressional committees to fulfill their oversight duties in hearings.
“ICE agents do not have carte blanche in carrying out their duties,” she said in the statement.
“The tragedy and chaos the country is witnessing in Minneapolis is shocking,” Murkowski’s statement said, and added that the killing of another U.S. citizen “should raise serious questions within the administration about the adequacy of immigration-enforcement training and the instructions officers are given on carrying out their mission.”
Sullivan’s office is closely monitoring reports out of Minneapolis following the fatal shooting, according to a statement through spokesperson Devyn Shea. Sullivan stopped short of calling for an independent investigation of ICE actions.
“He believes we should gather all the facts and investigate the incident before drawing conclusions — to ensure accountability, restore public trust, and prevent future confrontations that result in loss of life,” his spokesperson wrote.
“Senator Sullivan strongly supports our law enforcement and their ability to do their jobs. He also believes that any loss of life is tragic and hopes that the temperature in Minnesota on both sides can be lowered and that the situation between protestors and law enforcement deescalates and the violence dissipates,” the statement said.
Silver Prout, a spokesperson for Begich’s office, said he will not speculate, but “allow facts to be established through appropriate investigative processes.”
“Congressman Begich supports law enforcement’s ability to carry out their duties safely and without interference from agitators,” Prout wrote on Tuesday. “This includes a responsibility to ensure transparency and accountability in the commission of those duties.”
Prout said Begich supports “appropriate” Congressional oversight of federal law enforcement and that safe communities are a top priority of Begich’s.
“If anything, recent events have underscored the need for additional funding to ensure law enforcement has the tools, personnel, and training needed to complete their job,” she wrote.
Congressional candidates speak out
Some congressional candidates have issued statements in response to the violence and unrest in Minneapolis. Former U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola, a Democrat challenging Sullivan, called for an independent investigation into the death of Alex Pretti, as well as increased Congressional oversight for ICE and funding for local law enforcement in Alaska.
“Nothing is more important than the safety of our communities,” she wrote on social media on Monday.
“What’s happening right now in the Lower 48 does nothing to make us safer here in Alaska. In Alaska, we respect the rule of law and lawfully carrying a firearm never justifies deadly force by federal agents,” the post said.
On Monday, the campaign of Democratic candidate Matt Schultz, who is challenging Rep. Begich for Alaska’s sole House seat, called on Congress to respond to the killings of U.S. citizens by ICE.
The statement urged that ICE be withdrawn from Minnesota and for its personnel to be better trained. It accused the Trump administration of deploying them “as a cudgel for settling petty partisan grudges.”
“I’m troubled by the silence and inaction of too many of our leaders here in Alaska,” the statement said, specifically attacking Begich and another candidate, independent Bill Hill. “It is time to speak up and show up for our fellow Americans, immigrants, and the Bill of Rights.”
Hill gave a statement on social media on Monday, saying that Americans should be able to exercise their 1st and 2nd Amendment rights without “being killed by their government.”
“Our congressman needs to stand up and fight for an independent investigation into the shooting of Alex Pretti. Until that happens, ICE should get the hell out of Minneapolis,” the statement said.
Corinne Smith and James Brooks contributed reporting to this story. This story has been updated.
U.S. Army Soldiers with the 11th Airborne Division, load Air Force C-130 Hercules aircraft in preparation for deployment into the Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center’s 25-02 training exercise, Fairbanks, Alaska, Jan. 23, 2025. (U.S. Army Photo by Master Sgt. Justin P. Morelli)
A Democratic state lawmaker from Anchorage loudly denounced the actions of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s surge in Minnesota while speaking on the Alaska House floor on Friday.
Rep. Andrew Gray, D-Anchorage, is a military veteran and co-chair of the Legislature’s Joint Armed Services Committee.
“The facts are that our government is out of control. Norms have been broken at an alarming rate, and the world is watching us in shock,” he said.
Gray’s remarks were met by loud desk-thumping — a form of applause — and came on a day when thousands of Minnesotans marched in subzero weather and held a general strike to show their opposition to ICE efforts in their state.
Tensions are particularly high after several shootings by federal officers, including one in which an officer killed a mother of three.
The remarks came one day before federal agents fatally shot another Minneapolis resident on Saturday, prompting nationwide protests throughout the weekend.
Up to 1,500 active-duty troops of the U.S. Army’s 11th Airborne Division, based in Anchorage, have been ordered to stand by for possible deployment to Minneapolis — Minnesota’s largest city — according to National Public Radio.
In those letters, Gray and Kawasaki say they are receiving “enquiries … from the Alaskan people” and pose a series of questions.
How long will the 11th Airborne be in Minnesota? How does a deployment fit in the division’s mission to defend the United States against foreign threats? Could soldiers be detaining suspected undocumented people? Would the 11th Airborne fight the Minnesota National Guard if Gov. Tim Walz activates it to defend protesters?
“Fifteen hundred active-duty soldiers may be sent from Alaska to Minnesota to protect ICE agents as they continue their efforts to arrest and detain suspected undocumented immigrants,” Gray said, “But who really needs the protection? Is it the ICE agents, or is it the folks who are terrified to leave their homes, to go to work, to pick their kids up from school or to actually show up at their immigration appointments?”
While Gray’s comments appeared to have the support of many legislators in the chamber — judging by the desk-pounding applause — there was at least one dissenting voice.
Rep. Jamie Allard, R-Eagle River, is a veteran, the spouse of a veteran, and a Latina, she said, explaining that she had also sent a letter to Gen. Cogbill, but her letter was to remind him that he is not legally obligated to answer the Legislature’s questions or testify in the Capitol.
Allard said she has been deployed overseas with the military and with the U.S. State Department.
“I experienced things when I worked for the US State Department, of women being abused, hit — watched them get their teeth knocked in, where I had to stand by and couldn’t do anything,” she said.
“We have a lot going on in our country, dividing, saying we’re this or we’re that. We’re all Americans, but it doesn’t mean that it’s okay to have riots across our country. If the military and the federal government and the Department of War and the 11th Airborne Division decide that it’s best to go to Minnesota, that’s what we need to do,” she said.
Allard’s comments were met by quieter but noticeable desk-pounding, with the loudest coming from Rep. Kevin McCabe, R-Big Lake.
He said afterward that he thinks Gray incorrectly described some aspects of ICE’s work in Minnesota. For example, Gray said ICE detained a five-year-old in Minnesota.
“There’s a little bit more to the story, McCabe said.
“We shouldn’t be messing around in another branch of the government in their bailiwick,” he said. “The worst people in Alaska to manage the National Guard is probably the state Legislature.”
NOTN- Juneau for Democracy and the ReSisters held a peaceful pop-up protest in Juneau yesterday evening in solidarity with nationwide demonstrations which are being held due to recent federal immigration enforcement actions.
Juneau for Democracy invited residents to gather at The Whale for what the group called a candlelight vigil, to show support for people protesting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents across the country.
The event is part of a wave of protests that have followed several shootings and lethal confrontations with ICE agents, particularly in Minneapolis.
Protestors sang “This Little Light of Mine” in the lightly falling snow, posting on their social media to bring songs, poems, love and determination to share.
NOTN- Juneau for Democracy and the ReSisters held a peaceful pop-up protest in Juneau yesterday evening in solidarity with nationwide demonstrations which are being held due to recent federal immigration enforcement actions.
Juneau for Democracy invited residents to gather at The Whale for what the group called a candlelight vigil, to show support for people protesting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents across the country.
The event is part of a wave of protests that have followed several shootings and lethal confrontations with ICE agents, particularly in Minneapolis.
Protestors sang “This Little Light of Mine” in the lightly falling snow, posting on their social media to bring songs, poems, love and determination to share.
People gather near the post office during a protest, Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
AP- The Pentagon has ordered about 1,500 active duty soldiers to be ready in case of a possible deployment to Minnesota, where federal authorities have been conducting a massive immigration enforcement operation, two defense officials said Sunday.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military plans, said two infantry battalions of the Army’s 11th Airborne Division have been given prepare-to-deploy orders. The unit is based in Alaska and specializes in operating in arctic conditions.
One defense official said the troops are standing by to deploy to Minnesota should President Donald Trump invoke the Insurrection Act, a rarely used 19th century law that would allow him to employ active duty troops as law enforcement.
The move comes just days after Trump threatened to do just that to quell protests against his administration’s immigration crackdown.
In an emailed statement, Pentagon chief spokesman Sean Parnell did not deny the orders were issued and said the military “is always prepared to execute the orders of the Commander-in-Chief if called upon.”
ABC News was the first to report the development.
On Thursday, Trump said in a social media post that he would invoke the 1807 law “if the corrupt politicians of Minnesota don’t obey the law and stop the professional agitators and insurrectionists from attacking the Patriots of I.C.E., who are only trying to do their job.”
He appeared to walk back the threat a day later, telling reporters at the White House that there wasn’t a reason to use it “right now.”
“If I needed it, I’d use it,” Trump said. “It’s very powerful.”
Trump has repeatedly threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act throughout both of his terms. In 2020 he threatened to use it to quell protests after George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police, and in recent months he threatened to use it for immigration protests.
The law was most recently invoked by President George H.W. Bush in 1992 to end unrest in Los Angeles after the acquittal of four white police officers in the beating of Rodney King.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat and frequent target of Trump, has urged the president to refrain from sending in more troops.
“I’m making a direct appeal to the President: Let’s turn the temperature down. Stop this campaign of retribution. This is not who we are,” Walz said last week on social media.
NOTN- At about 1:30 PM, the Juneau Police Department received a 911 call regarding a motor vehicle collision in the area of Auke Lake, on Glacier Highway.
Initial reports indicated that two vehicles were involved in the collision, and some of the occupants were pinned inside the vehicles, a young child passenger was also unconscious.
Emergency services responded to the crash and extricated multiple people from the collision site.
The unconscious passenger, a 7-year-old child, was transported to the hospital. Police have since confirmed the child has died.
The initial investigation showed that a black 2000 Jeep Cherokee was travelling inbound on Glacier Highway at Pederson Hill, when it lost control and travelled into the oncoming lane of traffic, and struck a white 2015 Dodge Ram travelling outbound on Glacier Highway.
The Jeep was being operated by a 17-year-old female, and there was a 7-year-old female passenger inside. Both occupants of the Jeep were pinned inside the vehicle after the crash, which caused the vehicle to roll onto the driver side in the ditch. The Jeep sustained totaling damages. The Dodge was operated by a 25-year-old male, and there was a 3-year-old male passenger. The Dodge sustained significant damages to the front end.
The 7-year-old female was pronounced deceased at the hospital. Next of kin has been notified. No other significant injuries were reported during the initial investigation of the crash.
The cause of the crash remains under investigation
