A state and city on edge faces another threat from Trump to send in 1,500 troops

Amy Burback awoke to the news Sunday, Jan. 18, that the Trump administration has alerted 1,500 paratroopers for potential deployment to Minnesota.

“It seems like a bit of overkill,” Burback said while enjoying brunch with her husband, Scott, at the Hen House in downtown Minneapolis. “I was surprised to see the federal government was putting troops on alert when our National Guard weren’t needed yesterday.”

The Minnesota National Guard said Sunday that it’s “on standby,” after Gov. Tim Walz this month authorized the Guard to be staged to help maintain public safety.

On Saturday, Humvees were stationed on Minneapolis highway ramps as conservative influencer and pardoned Jan. 6 rioter Jake Lang threatened to march to a Somali American neighborhood from an anti-Islam demonstration he had organized downtown. But hundreds of counterprotesters shut down his rally.

Because the Hen House closed during Lang’s event and the Burbacks could not dine there Saturday, the Stillwater couple returned the next day. They have been staying at a downtown hotel since Wednesday while their home is being renovated.

Scott Burback said they could’ve changed their reservation to a hotel outside Minneapolis — ground zero for the largest immigration enforcement surge in the country — but didn’t back away, a decision that drew concern and confusion among some friends in Stillwater.

“We’re going to participate in downtown and just be a part of this because we’re Minnesotans,” he said.

“We feel part of the bigger Minnesota community. And we’re fiercely loyal and support everybody. And that’s why, when we were given the option to change, we said, ‘No,’” he said.

That resilience was reflected in the Sunday morning sermon at Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church, where the pews were packed and snow fell outside.

With President Donald Trump threatening last week to invoke the Insurrection Act and send troops into the city, the Rev. Elizabeth Macaulay invoked the words of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

“The question is this: Will we retreat from the intentional reign and terror being perpetrated upon our state, or will we turn and do the work to which God calls us, praying and singing and organizing and resisting in the light of God?” Macaulay said. “How do we live our faith in a time saturated by fear and fury?”

Macaulay shared a sermon that King delivered immediately after the Montgomery, Ala., bus protest when he began receiving threatening phone calls and letters. King said he was exhausted and wanting to give up when he had an epiphany in his kitchen that God is forever with him as he fights for justice and truth, Macaulay said.

“We are part of a hurting community. This crisis that we are immersed in is teaching us about who it is we are and how it is we are connected,” she said.

She said local food shelves were being replenished and neighbors were delivering groceries to people too afraid to leave their homes.

“I want to say the state of Minnesota is witnessing to the power of love. How many of you are proud to be citizens of this great state?” Macaulay asked.

The congregation raised their hands.

Sunday’s service included a prayer for Renee Good, who was killed by an ICE agent Jan. 7. Since her death, thousands have marched through the streets of Minneapolis as tensions and anxieties have boiled over.

The next day, Trump threatened to quell unrest in Minnesota by invoking the Insurrection Act. He walked back that threat, then doubled down on Sunday by readying 1,500 active-duty soldiers in Alaska.

A defiant Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey appeared Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” and said Minnesota was “under siege” and being “occupied” by the federal government.

“I never thought in a million years that we would be invaded by our own federal government,” he said.

Frey called on protesters to continue to be peaceful and to record ICE agents’ activities. He urged them to not “take the bait” from the Trump administration “that clearly they’re trying to set up to do right now, which is these 1,500 troops.”

“This act was clearly designed to intimidate the people of Minneapolis,” Frey said. “And here’s the thing, we’re not going to be intimidated. If the goal here is safety. We’ve got many mechanisms to achieve safety, and the best way to get safety is not to have an influx of even more agents.”

On Sunday, Michaela McDonald, a classical singer and adjunct professor based in New York City who is from the Midwest, joined friends for brunch at Hen House.

“I think that it’s an egregious overstep of power,” she said outside the restaurant on a snowy sidewalk.

McDonald said resources could be better spent on education, livable wages, uplifting communities and neighbors.

“It’s easy to love thy neighbor when you recognize like that’s all we have,“ she said. ”You’re a hell of a lot closer to your neighbor than you are to the troops, than you are to Donald Trump, than you are to the billionaires.”