Trump announces the deployment of the National Guard to Memphis in the middle of the high violent crimes rate

President Donald Trump said that Memphis “deeply disturbed”, tenn., Is the next on the list for a potential deployment of national guard troops after a reduction in crime following the federal wave of law application in Washington, DC

Memphis has the highest violent crimes in the United States of cities with more than 250,000 people, with a rate of 2,501 per 100,000 people, WSMV reportedquoting FBI data. Oakland, California; Detroit; And Baltimore is just behind.

The president said that on “Fox & Friends” on Friday morning, he would have “preferred” to send troops to Chicago, where Democratic leaders have opposed a push, but a major immigration application is underway.

Crime of Chicago, the National Guard prompted the foreground of Trump’s week

Tangle of ramps for the interstate I-40 exchange around the Renasing Convention Center in Memphis. (Ron Buskirk / UCG / Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

“We are going to straighten the national guard and any other person we need,” he added later.

The president then presented Memphis as “a big musical city” and the “house of Elvis”.

The mayor of the county of Shelby, Lee Harris, sentenced the move on Friday to send troops to the city in a declaration to Fox News Digital.

“The announcement of the president that the troops will occupy the communities of Tennessee are disappointing, anti-democratic and violates American standards and possibly American laws,” said Harris.

“In the short term, the President’s incursion will probably cause confusion and fear in many of our communities, especially the most vulnerable. In the long term, the brand of Tennessee communities occupied by federal forces will harm our state’s reputation during generations.”

GOP senators say they are open to Trump deployment of the National Guard in the blue cities of their states

President Donald Trump speaks with members of the soldiers of the law enforcement and the National Guard on August 21, 2025 in Washington, DC (Jacquelyn Martin / AP Photo)

Harris added that this “will have a scary effect” on the Tennesseens wanting to “exercise critical freedoms, such as the freedom to protest and the freedom to travel”. He added that they will do “anything possible to” prevent this foray into Tennessee “.

The mayor of Memphis, Paul Young, said Thursday in a statement at the local point of sale that he was aware of the possibility of a deployment of troops, claiming that he “works to ensure efforts to strengthen our community” and asked for more “financial resources” for the application of the law, affirming that progress is made to combat crime in the city ,, According to Wreg.

“We agree with Governor Lee that Memphis’s effective support comes from targeted initiatives that provide results as we have seen with the FBI, state soldiers and other law implementing partnerships,” said Young.

Trump said in the interview on Friday that “the mayor is happy”. In the capital, the Democratic mayor Muriel Bowser was strongly critical of the federal takeover at the start, but then praised the drop in crime.

The debate on a national level continues if the sending of troops in cities is the right decision, as opposed to federal agencies for the application of the law, because DC policy is considered an effort of collaboration.

Trump week shaped by the crime agenda, potential deployment of childcare in Chicago

The American senator Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., Expressed the first day of the National Republican Convention at the Firenv Forum on July 15, 2024, in Milwaukee. (SOMODEVILLA / GETTY Images)

Senator Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., Hummed this decision as a step forward to slow down urban crime.

“Today, President Trump responded to my call to do everything it takes to make Memphis again, and I applaud his decision to send the National Guard to Memphis after his enormous success in reducing violent crimes in Washington, DC,” she said.

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The federal wave of Bluff City could also be part of “Viper Operation”, which is an effort for the FBI and the DEA to increase their application in the west of Tennessee.

The White House has postponed the president’s remarks when reached by Fox News Digital. Fox News Digital contacted the mayor of Memphis.