{"id":229983,"date":"2025-09-16T00:09:14","date_gmt":"2025-09-16T00:09:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/229983\/"},"modified":"2025-09-16T00:09:14","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T00:09:14","slug":"trump-deploys-national-guard-to-memphis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/229983\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump deploys National Guard to Memphis"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 President Donald Trump<\/a> signed an order Monday sending the National Guard into Memphis<\/a> to combat crime, offering another major test of the limits of presidential power<\/a> by using military force in American cities.<\/p>\n

With Republican Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee visiting the Oval Office, Trump said troops would be deployed and join a special task force in the city comprised of officials from various federal agencies, including the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the U.S. Marshal\u2019s service. <\/p>\n

He said the goal would be to stamp out crime in a way that he says sending in the National Guard and federalizing the local police force<\/a> has in Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis task force will be a replica of our extraordinarily successful efforts here,\u201d Trump said of the District of Columbia. \u201cAnd, you\u2019ll see it\u2019s a lot of the same thing.\u201d <\/p>\n

The presidential memorandum Trump signed did not include details on when troops would be deployed or exactly what his promised surge in law enforcement efforts would look like.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlanning is currently underway, and we will continue to work closely with federal and local partners to determine the most effective path forward,\u201d said Lee\u2019s spokesperson, Elizabeth Lane Johnson. <\/p>\n

The memorandum also specified that some out-of-state help might be available, including state police in Memphis-bordering Mississippi and Arkansas, and National Guard members from other states as necessary.<\/p>\n

Trump said the FBI had already stepped up its recent activities in Memphis, which is majority Black and Tennessee\u2019s second-largest city, and had helped reduce crime, but, \u201cWe\u2019re sending in the big force now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shortly before Trump\u2019s announcement, the White House posted on social media that the Memphis total crime rate was higher than the national average and suggested that the rate had increased since last year, bucking national trends.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s despite Memphis police recently reporting decreases across every major crime category in the first eight months of 2025 compared to the same period in previous years. Overall crime hit a 25-year low, while murder hit a six-year low, police said.<\/p>\n

Still, Memphis has dealt with stubborn gun violence problems for years. In 2023, the city set a record with more than 390 homicides. <\/p>\n

Tennessee\u2019s governor embraced the troop deployment as part of a broader law enforcement surge in Memphis, with Lee saying Monday that he was \u201ctired of crime holding the great city of Memphis back.\u201d The state\u2019s Republican senators, Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty, joined in the Oval Office as well.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s action followed his first announcing that he\u2019d soon be deploying the National Guard to Memphis on Friday \u2014 drawing immediate pushback from its Democratic leader<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did not ask for the National Guard, and I don\u2019t think it\u2019s the way to drive down crime,\u201d Memphis Mayor Paul Young told a news conference Friday while acknowledging the city remained high on too many \u201cbad lists.\u201d<\/p>\n

Young has also said that now the decision is made, he wants to ensure he can help influence the Guard\u2019s role. He mentioned possibilities such as traffic control for big events, monitoring cameras for police and undertaking beautification projects.<\/p>\n

At a news conference Monday, some local Democrats urged officials to consider options to oppose the deployment. Tami Sawyer, Shelby County General Sessions Court Clerk, said the city or county could sue.<\/p>\n

Speculation had centered on Chicago<\/a> as Trump\u2019s next city to send in the National Guard and other federal authorities. But the administration has faced fierce resistance from Democratic Illinois J.B. Pritzker and other local authorities.<\/p>\n

Trump nonetheless insisted Monday, \u201cWe\u2019re going to be doing Chicago probably next\u201d while also suggesting that authorities would wait and not act immediately there. <\/p>\n

Speaking about a skyscraper bearing his name in the nation\u2019s third largest city, Trump said he \u201cknew all about\u201d Chicago and had \u201ca great beautiful building. I\u2019m so proud of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut you get less proud when you see all the crime,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n

Pressed on if he might send troops into Chicago without support from state and local authorities, the president insisted, \u201cIt\u2019s not going to matter to us at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hope we have the governor\u2019s help,\u201d he said. \u201cBut, if we don\u2019t we\u2019re doing it without him.\u201d <\/p>\n

Trump has also previously said he\u2019d be willing to send troop to New Orleans \u2014 another Democrat-leaning city in a Republican-run state. He mentioned New Orleans again on Monday, but also singled out Baltimore and even St. Louis as locales that could be in line for troop deployments eventually \u2014 though he provided no details. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to save these places,\u201d Trump said. <\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Mattise reported from Nashville, Tennessee.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 President Donald Trump signed an order Monday sending the National Guard into Memphis to combat…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":229984,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[124138,120331,12785,84,69,121793,57,51,1819,1818,9702,3577,8132,50,120330,80,124139,1229,6066,52,51507,61,93],"class_list":{"0":"post-229983","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-bill-hagerty","9":"tag-bill-lee","10":"tag-dc-wire","11":"tag-district-of-columbia","12":"tag-donald-trump","13":"tag-elizabeth-lane-johnson","14":"tag-general-news","15":"tag-headlines","16":"tag-il-state-wire","17":"tag-illinois","18":"tag-marsha-blackburn","19":"tag-memphis","20":"tag-military-and-defense","21":"tag-news","22":"tag-paul-young","23":"tag-politics","24":"tag-tami-sawyer","25":"tag-tennessee","26":"tag-tn-state-wire","27":"tag-top-stories","28":"tag-u-s-federal-bureau-of-investigation","29":"tag-u-s-news","30":"tag-washington-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115211073165743931","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229983","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=229983"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229983\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/229984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=229983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=229983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=229983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}