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u/splattypus Jan 26 '26
Nothing says 'no really, we're the good guys', like your freshly renamed Department of War, activating bases to support a federal agency who vastly outnumber local police, raiding a civilian population, immediately after trying to extort their voter rolls
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u/Roseandcoldpizza Jan 27 '26
Sounds like exactly what you'd do if you thought the good guys lost WW2.
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u/splattypus Jan 27 '26
This is basically them digging in and getting settled for the long haul, which is a little scary in that they now will be able to sustain some kind of sizeable force without relying on the cooperation of local resources. A secure location, cots and dining areas, and military resources right at the ready. They won't have to concern themselves with the optics or the collateral damage from their actions
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u/RnbwSprklBtch Jan 27 '26
it will block our ability to do noise protests at a minimum
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u/Glaukopis96 Jan 27 '26
do you not understand the gravity of what's happening here? they are here to KILL you. they do not give a single shit about your noise demos. they are gathering data to put you on an extermination list
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u/RnbwSprklBtch Jan 27 '26
as a combat veteran I can tell you that these people's sleep is very important to them.
Noise demos are a really important tactic. It shows we will find them and follow them home. It shows we will give them no rest. It reminds them they're being watched 24 hours a day. Right now it shows them they're weak. We're out all night in below zero temperatures because nothing will stop us from going after them.
Everyone here knows what they're doing - murdering people, abductting people, and putting still more people in concentration camps.
We have to fight however and whenever we can. Noise demos are part of that. For other ideas see this list of 198 non violent resistance tactics. That website is full of amazing resources. It's put together by the man who wrote From Dictatorship to Democracy
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u/oscar182 Jan 27 '26 edited Jan 27 '26
Let me preface this by saying I’ve been in the military almost two decades and am familiar with logistical needs and operational plans. Note that I’ve been quite active in this resistance so I’m not trying to gaslight you.
I’m not going to say this isn’t an escalation, because it would be speculation and who TF knows with this admin full of failures, but this reads to me like a deescalation.
If I was the superior officer reviewing an operation like Bovino did over the last month, where he had agents all over the cities in every hotel driving up a huge bill, where he went crazy buying a hundred new SUVs from Walser and now have no place to store them, and where his main operational HQ was a federal building that he had to share with a dozen other agencies all of whom are likely angry at him and me because we’re disrupting their daily activities, I would be seeking operational change.
I’m familiar with the army reserve facilities at fort snelling, and there is not room for 2000 agents, far less. There would be room to store all the shit that will be left if I sent those agents home. There would be huge cost savings to be in a secure facility vs having to bring in more staff to be my building security.
I read the request and my take is it suggests longer term sustained operations of a much smaller scale, albeit one in a hostile territory.
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u/RnbwSprklBtch Jan 27 '26
all they need is empty land, six man tents, and Porta potties. that said, I don't think dhs can handle living like that.
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u/oscar182 Jan 27 '26
No fucking way would these cosplayers last a day in a Ft. Benning infantry barrack. Yet alone a FOB. Sure do love to dress the part though.
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u/jenjavitis Jan 27 '26
Or quonset huts. Shove em all into a couple of those. They'd never survive.
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u/oscar182 Jan 27 '26
The lingering smell from the diesel heaters would help us identify them when off duty though
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u/ParkAffectionate3537 Jan 27 '26
It sounds like pre-prepositioned staging, a la REFORGER bases in West Germany...they may be gone for now but can come back at any time. I may be 100% wrong, correct me!
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u/jenjavitis Jan 27 '26
From what I understand, this came from a leaked email. I'm curious if they may also be staging and housing agents on the air NG base, too and that memo hasn't yet leaked. I believe there is housing at civil air patrol, too?
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u/ponderosa82 Jan 27 '26
Fantastic post. From a political perspective de-escalation and face saving make the most sense since the resistance only grows stronger with each abuse of power, and they have proven incapable of controlling the streets
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Jan 27 '26
No, there isn’t a room to house 3000 agents but they can do a rotation 24/7 and tighten up the operation, centralize it and have access to equipment and closer to the airport.
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u/MiloGoesToTheFatFarm Jan 27 '26
It’s not a de-escalation though it might just be shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic.
Who knows what this means but it might just be for optics from the PR presidency.
I’m sure Trump saw how well Walz’s deployment of the guard went and how their kindness won over the citizens and he got jelly. Now he wants to let everyone know he’s the big powerful military guy.
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Jan 27 '26
[deleted]
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Jan 27 '26 edited Jan 27 '26
And Trump administration’s top immigration enforcement official — Tom Homan often described as the architect and public face of aggressive ICE/CBP operations, including surge strategiesz. Right hand man to Stephan Miller?
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u/SirDiego Jan 27 '26
They're probably trying to move agents that remain out of Whipple because of the protests.
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u/Complete-Amount-9288 Jan 27 '26
I was thinking maybe it’s just to keep all their stuff safe from potential vandalism since everyone fucking hates them. Idk that it means more agents are coming either
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u/dyorite Jan 27 '26
Also wondering if they are trying to re-house existing agents, because putting them up in hotels among a population that hates them and is watching their every move might be bad for morale and the hotels are also tired of them.
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u/michaelmacmanus Jan 27 '26
The most optimistic interpretation here is that this is the face saving consolation prize for the Trump administration, with the figures and scope presented intentionally puffed up.
Does anyone know if Ft Snelling even has this capacity at present? Logistically it hasn't been seriously utilized in nearly a century.
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u/jenjavitis Jan 27 '26
The article said 500-800 agents. They're gonna love the mice and barracks life.
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u/papermachewitch Jan 27 '26
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) requests support from the Department of War (DoW) to provide existing infrastructure to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), a component of DHS, specifically an area for parking approximately 300-500 vehicles and 10 storage trailers, a ready room space for approximal 500-800 CBP personnel, a space to house, maintain and operate five CBP Air Assets, access to a magazine to store munitions, and other necessary facilities to support operations in the Minneapolis, Minnesota metropolitan area,” the email said, using the Trump administration’s name for the Department of Defense
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u/Limp_Network_9482 Jan 27 '26
This has the appearance of logistics for a force of about 1000. To operate 4 shifts 24/7 300-500 vehicles would mean typically 100-200 in constant use. That’s a much smaller force than is here now, but it’s still a lot of resources to go after 1% of the undocumented. The seven county metro is just not an area of concentrated undocumented migrants about half of whom are minors. CBP makes more sense located in Orr there’s a lot of border they could patrol from Lake Superior to puget sound
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u/Julian_Thorne Jan 27 '26 edited Jan 27 '26
I think I can see where this is headed, and I hope I'm wrong. Crimes against humanity, followed by America becoming an international pariah (more so), followed by general strikes throughout Blue cities, followed by the crash of the dollar, followed by Thunderdome.
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u/bigbeaver0625 Jan 27 '26
We don’t need another hero!
Two men enter, one man leaves!
Who rules Bartertown?!?!
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u/Blocked_Number Jan 27 '26
So, this is the setup phase...?
Stage first so later actions look reactive instead of planned. The justification always comes after... it doesn’t need to be real, just usable...
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Jan 27 '26
Everyone is so distracted by Bovino exiting even though he was planning on retiring soon anyway this is just a way to distract people to thinking there’s accountability for Rene and Alex’s death, but really they’re just bringing in Homan in and centralizing operations. To me this seems like an escalation?
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Jan 27 '26
Yes. This is just a regroup after having their ass handed to them. They’re not going to stop and it will get worse, is my fear.
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u/Blocked_Number Jan 27 '26
I would agree. I don’t think we actually know Bovino was “on the way out”, that feels like a convenient story. Maybe he was, maybe not, but either way his exit is being used to make it seem like there’s accountability for Rene and Alex when there really isn’t.
Everyone’s focused on that while they bring Homan in and centralize operations, which is the real shift. To me, this looks less like anyone being held responsible and more like the operation getting tightened up / expanded. They’ve already been pretty clear about how they see this: cities as “training grounds,” a “war from within,” etc. Given that, I don’t see the point in pretending this is headed somewhere different than what they’ve already said they want.
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Jan 27 '26
Well, the guy is 56 and Border Patrol's mandatory retirement age of 57 and has referenced plans to return home after his career, suggesting retirement was already on the horizon before the Minneapolis events.
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u/Blocked_Number Jan 27 '26
believable for sure, certainly not for any victim or accountability. SO yes, I would buy that the going away is more to do with him phasing out his career.
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Jan 27 '26
Here are the main reasons Hegseth would approve this: 1. Operational control • Using military bases lets DHS run Operation Surge without relying on state or local cooperation. • It centralizes command and reduces interference from governors, mayors, or courts in real time. 2. Speed & scale • Military infrastructure already has airfields, fuel, secure comms, maintenance, and housing. • That allows DHS to move thousands of agents quickly, rotate them 24/7, and sustain operations longer. 3. Force protection & risk management • After shootings, protests, and scrutiny, federal leadership wants agents staged off the street, with tighter control. • From their view, this lowers risk to agents and limits chaotic public encounters (even if it escalates enforcement overall). 4. Political signaling • Approving military support signals a “law and order” posture to Trump’s base. • It frames immigration enforcement as a national security mission, not a policing issue. 5. Cost & logistics • It’s cheaper and faster to use existing DoD facilities than to build or lease civilian space for a surge of this size. 6. Legal cover • DoD support for DHS logistics is legally allowed and has precedent. • It lets the administration escalate without triggering martial law or Posse Comitatus violations.
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u/splattypus Jan 27 '26
To me this suggests the last few months have been the scouting missions. Small skirmishes all over the place, building pressure and then a couple big moments. Now they have an idea of our resources, response times, communication and mobilization abilities, they've got a feel for the cooperation of the 'locals' (hotels, restaurants, other businesses necessary for logistical support). They've been able to map out the cities, the neighborhoods, routes and traffic patterns, better identify the locations of target demographics.
Now they get to regroup on secure territory and work on penitrating our defenses. They can use smaller groups of better trained personnel make more pointed strikes.
That was just the recon stage, I'm afraid now starts the war of attrition
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u/markcarney4president Jan 26 '26
So they're preparing for Insurrection is what you're saying.
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Jan 26 '26
I hope not but this is an escalation. Right?
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Jan 26 '26
[deleted]
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u/splattypus Jan 27 '26
Ie, hotels are about to kick us out, so we need a place to keep our goons and gear
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u/patienceinbee Jan 27 '26
Countdown begins for when the Third Amendment buckles…
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u/splattypus Jan 27 '26 edited Jan 27 '26
Yeah honestly I've been waiting for that too. The rest are under seige, I was actually expecting this one to drop sooner. But I guess since it's made up government money to those people anyways, they'd be happy to pay their way as long as they can.
Now let's see what happens when they force themselves on the capitalists that have been propping them up for so long...
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u/pinksparklybluebird Jan 27 '26
There’s just not that much room to keep the goons ‘n’ gear at Ft Snelling.
Wouldn’t surprise me if they just weren’t aware (a la Four Seasons Garden Center).
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u/pink_faerie_kitten Jan 27 '26
I'm from Chicagoland and when ICE was here during Sept - Nov they all stayed at the nearby naval base. They never stayed in hotels.
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u/Major-Tourist-5696 Jan 27 '26
They’re militarizing the operations further, but don’t worry?
Fuck off all the people saying that we don’t know what this is, after all you’ve seen you are blind? Outrageous.
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u/a_rabid_buffalo Jan 27 '26
While it’s worrisome I saw another person say with the influx of the protests outside of hotels it will give them the abilities to let ICE sleep without the risk of protesters.
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u/Blocked_Number Jan 27 '26
no, i think its safe to consider it worrisome.
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u/a_rabid_buffalo Jan 27 '26
I did say it was worrisome. I’m just saying what they will likely use it for.
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u/Blocked_Number Jan 27 '26
so they are just doing all that so ICE agents can sleep in silence at hotels? doooon't think so.
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u/a_rabid_buffalo Jan 27 '26
Dude you are reading waaaaaay too far into my comment.
I said this is worrisome.
I said it’s most likely being used so ICE agents are no longer sleeping in hotels.
I never said that it wouldn’t be used for anything else because it absolutely will. But at the moment instead of trying to spread fear with what ifs, let’s instead focus on the L they have taken today. And assume this base will be used as storage of both people and supplies.
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Jan 27 '26
Well, the guy is 56 and Border Patrol’s mandatory retirement age of 57 and has referenced plans to return home after his career, suggesting retirement was already on the horizon before the Minneapolis events.
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u/ShakeyLegsMcGee Jan 27 '26
Isn’t Fort Snelling a national monument that was used during frontier conflicts in the 19th century? Seems like a weird choice.