Tim Walz activates a Somalia national guard in Minnesota
Executive summary
1. Mischaracterization in the query: Gov. Tim Walz did not “activate a Somalia national guard in Minnesota,” but rather issued a warning order to prepare the Minnesota National Guard after a fatal ICE shooting in Minneapolis; there is no reporting that any foreign (Somalia) military force was involved or activated in the state [1] [2] [3].
2. What Walz actually ordered: Walz issued a warning or staging order — a preparatory step that readies personnel and equipment and puts the Guard on notice to support state and local public‑safety efforts if needed — rather than an activation placing troops on state active duty for deployment [1] [2] [4]. Multiple outlets describe the order as a readiness or staging move, with the governor saying the Guard would be available to protect infrastructure and public safety and the State Emergency Operations Center activated as part of parallel planning [4] [5] [2].
3. Scope and current status of Guard forces: Reporting emphasizes there were no current activations at the time of these accounts; General Simon Schaefer and other officials described equipment checks, personnel notifications and training‑week schedules that make troops available, but not mobilized into active mission status — the order was described as remaining in effect until rescinded or the end of the calendar year [3] [2] [6].
4. Why Walz took the step: The governor framed the warning order as a precaution after the ICE officer’s fatal shooting of a woman in south Minneapolis and amid tensions between federal agents and local communities; he cast the move as protecting Minnesotans and ensuring peaceful protest, and he said the state would pursue a full investigation with the BCA and federal partners [5] [1] [7]. News outlets quoted Walz urging peaceful demonstrations while preparing state resources in case unrest threatened public safety or critical infrastructure [6] [8].
5. Political reaction and contested narratives: The decision sparked sharp partisan backlash, with some Republican members of Congress and commentators framing Walz’s comments as a threat to federal authority and calling for extraordinary responses — including calls by Rep. Mary Miller and other Republicans for the president to invoke the Insurrection Act — while other outlets simply reported the governor’s cautionary posture; outlets and commentators have also amplified charged language that Walz “threatened” to deploy the Guard against federal agents, a characterization rooted in his comment that the Guard could be used if federal operations became rogue [9] [10] [4].
6. The Somali angle and limitations of reporting: Several pieces of reporting reference separate controversies involving Minnesota’s Somali community and past fraud investigations or national rhetoric targeting Somali immigrants, but none of the sources show any factual link between the governor’s Guard warning order and any foreign Somali military force or “Somalia national guard” being involved in Minnesota — the term in the user’s query conflates Minnesota’s Somali community or prior fraud reporting with the state Guard action and is not supported by the cited coverage [11] [12] [10]. If there are alternative documents or official statements alleging involvement of a Somali government force, those are not present in the provided reporting and thus cannot be confirmed here.
7. Bottom line and caveats: The solid, sourced takeaway is that Governor Walz put the Minnesota National Guard on notice and authorized staging/prepare measures in response to an ICE‑involved shooting and public‑safety concerns; he did not activate a foreign military force, and multiple local and national outlets consistently describe the step as preparatory rather than an active deployment — any claim that a “Somalia national guard” was activated in Minnesota is unsupported by the reporting provided [1] [2] [3]. Reporting also shows that the situation is politically charged and under investigation by state and federal authorities, and reporting limitations prevent assessing claims not covered in these sources [5] [1].