Minneapolis live updates: ICE arrest powers expanded, memo says

The Pentagon has placed hundreds of Army military police soldiers at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, on alert for a potential deployment to Minnesota, according to two U.S. officials.

The preparations are tied to the possibility that President Donald Trump could invoke the Insurrection Act, a rarely used law that allows the president to deploy federal troops on American soil.

ABC News previously reported Saturday that roughly 1,500 active-duty soldiers from at Joint Base Elmendorf–Richardson in Alaska had been ordered to ready themselves for such a mission.

No specific mission to Minnesota has been developed, both U.S. officials said, adding that the purpose is to ensure the president has a range of options should he decide to deploy troops.

Trump has repeatedly threatened to invoke the 1807 Insurrection Act, a statute that has been used sparingly and most often during the civil rights era, when federal troops were deployed to suppress unrest and enforce school desegregation.

"I don't think we need it at this point, and hopefully we won’t need it," Trump said in an interview with NewsNation on Tuesday.

-ABC News' Steve Beynon

An appeals court has temporarily blocked a federal judge’s order that barred immigration agents from arresting protesters or using non-lethal weapons against them.

This is part of an ongoing case in Minnesota filed by the American Civil Liberties Union in December.

U.S. District Judge Katherine Menendez had granted the ACLU’s request and ruled that federal agents deployed to the state under the operation are prohibited from arresting or detaining peaceful protesters “in retaliation for their protected conduct and absent a showing of probable cause or reasonable suspicion that the person has committed a crime or is obstructing or interfering with the activities.”

The order had also barred ICE and other federal agents from stopping drivers and passengers unless there’s reasonable suspicion that they’re obstructing federal enforcement activities.

-ABC News' Laura Romero

Vice President JD Vance will travel to Minneapolis on Thursday for a roundtable with local leaders and community members, a source familiar with Vance's visit confirmed to ABC News.

-ABC News' Hannah Demissie

Commander-at-large Gregory Bovino defended the actions of Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on the ground in Minneapolis , and argued that the tactics they use are "born out of necessity" but they are "legal, ethical and moral."

"Our operations are lawful. They're targeted. They're focused on individuals who pose a serious threat to this community. They are not random and they are not political," Bovino said at a press conference on Tuesday alongside top ICE official Marcos Charles. "They are about removing criminals who are actively harming Minneapolis neighborhoods."

Bovino said officers in Minneapolis "remain professional, focused, courteous and committed to the mission."

Charles also provided an update on Jonathan Ross, the officer who fatally shot Renee Good, saying he was at home recovering, but did not offer more than that.

-ABC News' Luke Barr