Trump says he’ll send National Guard to Memphis, escalating his use of
troops in US cities
[September 13, 2025]
By JONATHAN MATTISE
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — President Donald Trump said Friday he’ll send
the National Guard to address crime concerns in Memphis, Tennessee, his
latest test of the limits of presidential power by using military force
in American cities.
Speaking on Fox News, Trump said “the mayor is happy” and “the governor
is happy” about the pending deployment. Calling the city “deeply
troubled,” he said “we’re going to fix that just like we did
Washington,” where he’s sent the National Guard and surged federal law
enforcement.
Tennessee's Republican governor embraced the troop deployment as part of
a broader law enforcement surge in Memphis, however Trump’s assertion
drew pushback from the Democratic leader of Memphis, which is majority
Black.
“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.”
Several Memphis leaders said they welcome federal help but don't think
it needs to involve the military. Young committed to trying to help the
deployment strengthen the community without distracting from ongoing law
enforcement efforts. He said federal officials should aim at the “root
source of violent crime” and mentioned rehabilitation and mental health
services, jobs and housing needs.
Gov. Bill Lee said he planned to speak with the president on Friday to
work out details of the mission. He said he's still ironing out the best
role for the National Guard alongside the FBI, state Highway Patrol,
city police and other law enforcement agencies.
“I’m grateful for the President’s unwavering support and commitment to
providing every resource necessary to serve Memphians," Lee said in a
statement. “Memphis remains on a path to greatness, and we are not going
to let anything hold them back.”
The governor’s consent to the National Guard stands in sharp contrast to
Democratic leaders in states like California and Illinois, who argue
similar deployments undermine local authority and inflame tensions. The
president has also suggested he could send soldiers to New Orleans,
another majority-Black city led by Democrats in a Republican-leaning
state.
Crime is down, but troops are coming
Since deploying the National Guard to Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.,
Trump has openly mused about sending troops to some of the nation’s most
Democratic cities — including Chicago and Portland, Oregon — even as
data shows most violent crime in those places and around the country has
declined in recent years.
Trump said Friday he decided to send troops into Memphis after Union
Pacific CEO Jim Vena — who regularly visited the city while on the board
of FedEx — urged him earlier this week to address crime there.
The president’s announcement came just days after Memphis police
reported 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.
Memphis gun violence and high-profile killings
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.
Memphis has also seen several high-profile killings in recent years.
Rapper and independent music label owner Young Dolph was fatally shot at
a cookie shop in November 2021.
In September 2022, schoolteacher Eliza Fletcher was kidnapped during an
early morning run, and her body was later found near a vacant duplex.
Days later, a man went on a daylong shooting rampage as he drove through
the city, leading to a citywide shelter-in-place order. Three people
were killed and three others wounded.
Some Republicans want the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to audit the
Memphis Police Department’s crime reporting.
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Memphis Mayor Paul Young speaks about the deployment of the National
Guard to the city during a news conference Friday, Sept. 12, 2025,
in Memphis, Tenn. (Patrick Lantrip/Daily Memphian via AP)
Officials in Tennessee appear divided
Republican state Sen. Brent Taylor, who backs the Memphis troop
deployment, said Friday the National Guard could provide
“administrative and logistical support" to law enforcement and allow
local officers to focus on policework. The state’s two Republican
U.S. senators support the intervention.
The governor said Friday the deployment would add momentum to an
ongoing FBI operation in Memphis alongside state and local law
enforcement which “has already arrested hundreds of the most violent
offenders.”
Steve Mulroy, the district attorney for Shelby County, which
includes the city of Memphis, said he hoped the governor would tell
Trump that a better strategy would be sending more FBI and other
federal law enforcement agents, “people with actual training in
civilian law enforcement, unlike military troops.”
“These high-profile, short-term military deployments risk seeming
performative and leaving no lasting impact,” Mulroy, a Democrat,
said Friday.
The legal details
Asked Friday if city and state officials had requested a National
Guard deployment — or had formally signed off on it — the White
House didn’t answer. It also didn’t offer a possible timeline or say
whether federal law enforcement would be surged in connection with a
guard deployment, as happened when troops were deployed to
Washington.
Hina Shamsi, director of the ACLU’s National Security Project, said
in a news conference Friday that she could not speak directly to the
legality of sending National Guard troops to Memphis because she
doesn't know whether the troops would be deployed under state or
federal authority and what the legal justification would be.
“There quite simply is no factual emergency to legitimate calling
out troops to perform any kind of policing function,” she said.
Using soldiers for civil law enforcement, she said, “leaves our
Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights — searches, seizures, due process
safeguards — in the hands of people who are not trained to uphold
them, and it can chill the exercise of our First Amendment rights.”
Illinois governor celebrates as Trump turns focus south
Trump said Friday he “would have preferred going to Chicago,” where
local politicians have fiercely resisted his plans, but suggested
the city was too “hostile” with “professional agitators.”
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, a potential 2028 presidential contender,
wasted no time congratulating himself on social media, adding, “It’s
disturbing that the president is hellbent on sending troops onto
America’s streets. Using those who serve in uniform as political
props is insulting. None of this is normal.”
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi this week accused the state's
leaders of being uncooperative. However, even without National Guard
troops, residents in Chicago are expecting more federal immigration
enforcement.
Trump's broader National Guard strategy
Trump first deployed troops to Los Angeles in early June over
Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom’s objections by putting the California
National Guard under federal jurisdiction, known as Title 10, to
protect federal property from protests over immigration raids. The
guard later helped protect officers during immigration arrests.
Alongside 4,000 guard members, 700 active duty Marines were also
sent. California sued over the intervention.
In Washington, D.C., where the president directly commands the
guard, Trump has used troops for everything from armed patrols to
trash cleanup without any legal issues.
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