Tennessee governor says more federal agents to join fight against crime
in Memphis next week
[September 27, 2025]
By JONATHAN MATTISE and TRAVIS LOLLER
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — For two weeks, Memphis has been bracing for an
influx of National Guard troops after President Donald Trump announced
his intention to deploy them to the city. On Friday, residents finally
learned more about that plan, and it looks to be very different from the
deployments in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said Friday that the troops will be part of a
surge of resources to fight crime in the city that includes 13 federal
agencies and state troopers. The National Guard troops will be from
Tennessee, and they will be deputized by the U.S. Marshals Service to
support local law enforcement in the majority Black city.
The Republican governor said the troops will not make arrests and will
not be armed unless local law enforcement officials request it. Lee has
previously said he doesn’t think there will be more than 150 Guard
members deployed to Memphis, but he later said the number is still in
the planning stages.
A post on the city’s website says, “Guardsmen and women will be easily
identifiable in their standard uniforms that they wear every day. The
guardsmen and women will not be wearing masks.” It continues: “Armored
tanks will not be a resource used in this mission.”
“The story of crime in Memphis is about to be a story of the past,” Lee
said at a news conference in Memphis where he stood with city, state and
federal officials including the Memphis mayor and police chief.
Arriving in phases
The “Memphis Safe Task Force” will begin operations next week, Lee said.
He could not give an exact timeline for when each agency would start to
deploy resources to the city, saying it will occur in phases. He said
agents from the FBI, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
and the Drug Enforcement Administration will arrive next week.
He said he will not declare a state of emergency.
While the Republican governor has embraced federal intervention, Memphis
Mayor Paul Young has taken a pragmatic approach. Young, who is a
Democrat, has said he never asked for National Guard troops but
recognized they will come regardless of his opinion.
“My goal is to make sure that as resources come into our community, we
find ways to use them effectively and for the benefit of the residents
of our great city,” he said at the news conference.
While discussing the deployment, both Republican and Democratic
officials have noted recent decreases in some Memphis crime metrics.
Young noted that crime rates in Memphis have been falling but “we have a
lot of work to do to get crime at a level where people really, really
feel it.”
Both Young and Lee emphasized that the surge of resources is not
intended to be a quick fix but rather a sustained effort.
“It will operate as long as it takes,” Lee said.
“Success looks like Memphis being a safe city, Memphis being a place
where people have no concerns about going out with their family, about
locating their business," he said, adding, "When people recognize the
city of Memphis as one of the safest places in America, that’ll be
success.”
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Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee speaks about the National Guard and federal
agencies arriving in Memphis, Tenn., during a news conference
Friday, Sept. 26, 2025. (Patrick Lantrip/Daily Memphian via AP)
Reinforcements and funding
In addition to the federal troops and agents, Lee said the state will
provide $100 million to Memphis for public safety initiatives as well as
300 state troopers. That will allow 100 troopers to be on the ground at
any one time. Lee said that's a significant increase for Shelby County,
where Memphis is located. For its part, the Memphis Police Department
has more than 2,000 full-time police officers. The Shelby County
Sheriff’s Office has more than 600 law enforcement deputies, with
hundreds more who work in corrections.
Lee and other officials have said federal authorities were already
focusing on Memphis. That includes an operation the FBI says has
resulted in approximately 500 arrests and about 101 federal indictments
of violent criminals since May.
Other cities
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 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, about 2,000 members of the National Guard were part of
Trump's surge of law enforcement in the capital that began last month.
Trump has veered back and forth on sending troops to Chicago — at times
insisting he would act unilaterally to deploy them and at other points
suggesting he would rather send them to New Orleans, Portland, Oregon,
or a city in a state where their governor “wants us to come in.” Last
week, he said Chicago is “probably next” after Memphis.
On Thursday, Trump renewed his vow to send troops to Portland, where an
ongoing protest outside the ICE facility has drawn his attention. The
nightly protests take place outside the city’s ICE facility, which is
well outside the city’s downtown. On a recent night, there were a couple
of dozen protesters.
City groups and officials have sought to highlight Portland’s recovery
since 2020, when sustained protests and the pandemic deeply impacted the
city’s downtown. This summer was reported to be the busiest for
pedestrian traffic in downtown Portland since before the pandemic, and
overall violent crime from January through June decreased by 17% this
year compared to the same period in 2024, a recent report from the Major
Cities Chiefs Association found.
Trump announced on Fox News on Sept. 12 that he would next send the
National Guard to Memphis. He signed an order setting up the task force
of law enforcement agencies for the mission on Sept. 15.
Trump has said he selected Memphis after Union Pacific CEO Jim Vena —
who regularly visited Memphis as a member of the FedEx board — urged him
to address crime there.
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Claire Rush in Portland contributed to this story.
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