WASHINGTON — On Monday, President Donald Trump authorized the deployment of the National Guard to Memphis in an effort to tackle crime. This initiative marks another instance where Trump has tested the boundaries of presidential authority by utilizing military resources within U.S. cities.
Accompanied by Republican Tennessee Governor Bill Lee in the Oval Office during the announcement, Trump referred to the plan as a continuation of what he described as “highly effective measures” previously implemented in Washington.
President Donald Trump delivers remarks before signing a Presidential Memorandum in the Oval Office on Sept. 15, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
This move echoes the president’s actions from last month, whereby National Guard troops were dispatched to the nation’s capital and the local police force was brought under federal jurisdiction, a strategy he claims successfully reduced crime rates.
Trump indicated that, along with military personnel, the Memphis operation would include agents from multiple federal departments, such as the FBI, DEA, ICE, and the U.S. Marshal’s service, stating, “We’re mobilizing significant resources now.”
In advance of Trump’s declaration, the White House used social media to highlight that Memphis’s overall crime rate exceeded the national average and suggested it had risen from the previous year, defying national crime trends.
This contrasts with recent Memphis police reports showing reductions in all major crime categories within the first eight months of 2025 compared to prior years. Overall crime reached a 25-year low, and homicide rates dropped to their lowest in six years, according to the police.
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Despite the overall decrease, Memphis has dealt with stubborn gun violence problems for years. In 2023, the city set a record with more than 390 homicides.
Tennessee’s governor embraced the troop deployment as part of a broader law enforcement surge in Memphis. “Lee said Monday that he was “tired of crime holding the great city of Memphis back.”
Trump first suggested he’d be deploying the National Guard to Memphis on Friday, draying pushback from the Democratic leader of Memphis, which is majority Black.
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“I did not ask for the National Guard, and I don’t think it’s the way to drive down crime,” Mayor Paul Young told a news conference Friday while acknowledging the city remained high on too many “bad lists.”
Speculation had centered on Chicago as Trump’s 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.
Trump said Monday, “We’re going to be doing Chicago probably next” but also suggested that authorities would wait and not act immediately there.
“We want to save these places,” Trump said. He singled out St. Louis and Baltimore, but didn’t say either place would be getting federal forces or the National Guard.
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