The Pentagon has ordered the Army to be ready to deploy active-duty military police units to Minneapolis as violent protests rock the city in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd.
Citing three people with knowledge of the orders, the Associated Press reported early Saturday morning that soldiers from Fort Bragg in North Carolina and Fort Drum in New York were directed to be prepared for deployment within a four-hour time frame if they are called. Troops at Colorado’s Fort Carson and Fort Riley in Kansas were reportedly told to be prepared within 24 hours.
One of the sources said the active-duty units would be deployed under the Insurrection Act of 1807, last used in 1992 when deadly riots broke out in California after police officers were acquitted in the Rodney King trial. According to the sources, the units in Fort Drum would be the first to head to Minneapolis if called.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has ordered some 500 National Guard forces into the area of the riots to combat the violence, which has resulted in buildings looted and burned, but a spokesperson with the Defense Department told the Washington Examiner early Saturday morning that Walz has not asked for active-duty Army units to be deployed in Minnesota.
“The Department has been in touch with the Governor and there is no request for Title 10 forces to support the Minnesota National Guard or state law enforcement,” the spokesperson said in a statement to the Washington Examiner.
Brad Moss, an attorney specializing in national security, said it would be a big deal if President Trump invokes the Insurrection Act of 1807 to deploy the troops.
“If this is where the president is headed response-wise, it would represent a significant escalation and a determination that the various state and local authorities are not up to the task of responding to the growing unrest,” Moss tweeted.
Protests have erupted in dozens of U.S. cities across the country after 46-year-old Floyd died while in the custody of the Minneapolis Police Department.
Floyd, a black man, died after white Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin restrained him by placing his knee on his neck for nearly nine minutes.
Chauvin and three other officers involved in Floyd’s detainment were fired on Tuesday. Chauvin was taken into custody on Friday and charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.
The FBI and Justice Department are carrying out an investigation into whether the Minneapolis police officers involved in the death of Floyd violated any federal civil rights laws, Attorney General William Barr announced on Friday.
The Washington Examiner also reached out to the White House for comment.
