President Trump said Friday he’ll send the National Guard to Memphis to combat crime in the city.
“We’re going to Memphis,” Mr. Trump said on “Fox & Friends.” “Memphis is deeply troubled.”
The president said Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, a Republican, and Memphis Mayor Paul Young, a Democrat, were on board.
“The mayor is happy; he’s a Democrat mayor, and the governor of Tennessee is happy. We’re going to fix it like we fixed Washington,” Mr. Trump said.
He said he’s sending the National Guard and “anyone else we need,” adding that he could also send in the military.
Mr. Trump has made dispatching the National Guard to crime-plagued cities as the centerpiece of his second-term crime-fighting strategy. It has reduced crime in the District of Columbia, where Mr. Trump deployed troops last month. However, Democratic leaders have heavily criticized using the National Guard to fight crime, saying the military should not be used as domestic law enforcement.
In a statement to WMC in Memphis, Mr. Young said he is “committed to working to ensure any efforts strengthen our community and build on our progress.”
“We agree with Governor Lee that effective support for Memphis comes through focused initiatives that deliver results like we have seen with the FBI, state troopers and other law enforcement partnerships,” he said. “What we need most are financial resources for intervention and prevention, additional patrol officers and case support to strengthen MPD’s investigations.”
Lee Harris, the mayor of Shelby County, where Memphis is located, raised concerns about the National Guard deployment in a Facebook post.
“I’ve been to countries where there isn’t freedom, but there is military presence, where you can’t protest, and officials stay in power for as long as they want. That’s not America. Sadly, with the occupation of U.S. cities, we are far down this road of losing our democracy,” Mr. Harris wrote.
The president said he could send the National Guard into two or three other cities. He said his “preference” would be to send troops to Chicago, but they would be heading into a “hostile” environment because Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, both Democrats, have opposed the use of troops in the city.
Mr. Trump said that St. Louis or New Orleans could be the next city where he deploys the National Guard.
Memphis leads the nation’s 40 largest cities in overall crime rate, violent crime rate and property crime by a wide margin, according to state and federal crime data. The city’s crime rate reached a record high in 2023, but has since dropped below the levels it was in 2022, according to data from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.
Crime in the city this year is much higher than it was between 2010 and 2021, but 2024’s crime rate was down 11% compared to the same period in 2023, according to TBI data.
The Tennessee National Guard reports directly to the governor, unlike the District of Columbia, where the guard reports to the president. Mr. Trump would be unable to deploy troops to Memphis without the consent of Mr. Lee.
Mr. Trump said earlier this week that he’ll expand his use of the National Guard to an additional city to help combat crime and unrest, but did not specifically mention Memphis.
Mr. Trump has already deployed the National Guard to two cities.
In Los Angeles, Mr. Trump dispatched the guard and U.S. Marines earlier this year to subdue protests over immigration raids. About 300 National Guard troops remain in Los Angeles. A federal judge ruled last week that the military deployment is illegal, but the ruling is on appeal.
In Washington, where Mr. Trump has more authority over law enforcement, more than 2,200 National Guard troops were deployed last month to address crime. He also federalized the city’s police force to crack down on crime.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.