Trump Says He Will Send the National Guard to Memphis

President Donald Trump said on Friday that he was planning to send the National Guard to Memphis—the latest in a string of cities he’s threatened to deploy troops to as part of his crackdown on crime.

“We’re going to Memphis,” Trump said on Fox News’ Fox & Friends. “We’re going to fix that just like we did Washington.”

Trump called Memphis “deeply troubled,” claiming that both the city’s Democratic mayor and the state’s Republican governor were “happy” with the decision. But Tennessee state Rep. Justin Pearson, a Democrat, tells TIME that he spoke with Memphis Mayor Paul Young, who said he wasn’t happy about the news. Young’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said in a press release that he has “been in constant communication with the Trump Administration” to develop a plan to tackle the city’s crime rates, and planned to speak with the President on Friday “to work out details of the mission.”

“I’m grateful for the President’s unwavering support and commitment to providing every resource necessary to serve Memphians,” Lee said. “As one of America’s world-class cities, Memphis remains on a path to greatness, and we are not going to let anything hold them back.”

Trump said that, in addition to National Guard troops, his Administration would also send “anybody else we need” to the city.

“We’ll bring in the military too if we need it,” Trump said.

In 2024, Memphis had the highest rates of murder and violent crime compared to other major U.S. cities, according to a USA TODAY analysis. But the Memphis Police Department said this week that, overall, crime in the city is at a historic 25-year low so far this year. Robbery, burglary, and larceny are at 25-year lows, while murder is at a six-year low, the police force said.

Pearson condemns Trump’s plan to deploy the National Guard to Memphis, calling it “a gross abuse of power” and likening it to “authoritarianism led by a white supremacist who is President of the United States against another Black community.”

“We all should be terrified of what is happening because this is not coincidental or accidental that Black-led cities are being targeted and that this Administration is looking to find more ways that it can wield power beyond what any President or presidency has done in modern history against its own citizens with military occupation,” Pearson says.

He says that Trump’s threat to send military troops is “a smoke screen,” adding that federal and state leaders should instead invest in housing, education, and economic opportunity programs, among others, to address poverty and crime.

White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson defended Trump's announcement in a statement, pointing to Memphis' high crime rates in 2024. "Following the President’s highly successful operation to combat violent crime in DC, numerous Tennessee officials have applauded the President’s decision to address crime in Memphis next," she said. She called Pearson's comments "false, disgusting, and intentionally divisive."

"Following the tragic assassination of Charlie Kirk fueled by radical left-wing hatred, it’s unbelievable that Democrats would double down on their divisive rhetoric. It must stop," Jackson continued. "Addressing violent crime will benefit all who live in and visit Memphis.”

Kirk, a right-wing activist, was shot and killed at an event he was hosting at Utah Valley University on Wednesday. Authorities announced on Friday that they had arrested the suspect, identified as 22-year-old Tyler Robinson. Figures across the political aisle have condemned the assassination of Kirk. Republicans, including Trump, have placed blame on the political left for the shooting, for which authorities have not yet publicly identified any motive.

Last month, Trump took control of the Washington, D.C. police department and deployed National Guard troops to the city’s streets. He cited violent crime as the motivation for the move, even though city data showed that violent crime in the nation’s capital was already falling significantly. Trump’s 30-day takeover of the city’s police force expired Wednesday night, but National Guard troops are set to remain in D.C. at least through the end of November.

The President previously deployed the National Guard to Los Angeles earlier in the summer to quell protests over immigration raids in the city, despite facing opposition from the city’s mayor and California Gov. Gavin Newsom. Trump has indicated his desire to send National Guard troops to other major cities that he believes have a crime problem, too, including Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Baltimore, Oakland, and New Orleans.

While most of the cities Trump has suggested deploying troops to are located in Democratic-run states, New Orleans and Memphis are in states led by Republican governors and the GOP controls both chambers of their state legislatures, though the cities themselves have Democratic mayors. After the President launched his crackdown in D.C. last month, both Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry and Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee sent National Guard troops to the city to assist in the operation.

When announcing on Friday that his Administration would send troops to Memphis, Trump said he “would’ve preferred going to Chicago.” In August, Trump said that Chicago would likely be the “next” city his Administration would crack down on. Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, a Democrat, rejected the idea, and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, also a Democrat, ordered city departments not to cooperate if troops were deployed to the city. The President slammed local officials, and claimed that his Administration was “going to do it anyway.”

Trump did not say on Friday what law he would invoke to send troops to Memphis. A federal judge ruled earlier in September that the National Guard’s deployment in Los Angeles this summer violated federal law due to the troops’ use in civil law enforcement functions.