Trump to Send National Guard to Memphis

Democrat Representative Glenn Ivey reacts to President Trump's announcement that he will send National Guard troops into Memphis, Tennessee and what potential legal issues may arise as Trump expands his anti-crime push outside of DC.

But Lee Harris, the Democratic mayor of Shelby County, which includes Memphis, said he opposed a National Guard deployment.

“People are worried about the state of our democracy and realize this is a turning point to have folks on the street with armored vehicles, military fatigues and semi-automatic weapons,” Harris said in an interview Friday. “Our crime will never be at zero because unfortunately Tennessee has some of the most permissive gun laws in the country.”

President Donald Trump said he plans to deploy the National Guard to Memphis in the latest escalation of his administration’s efforts to crack down on what it casts as rampant crime in Democratic-run cities.

“We’re going to Memphis,” Trump said Friday morning in an interview with Fox News, adding that the city was “deeply troubled.”

The president indicated that the deployment had the support of Memphis Mayor Paul Young, a Democrat, and would include “National Guard and anyone else we need.”

“We’ll bring in the military, too if we need it,” Trump said, adding that “we’re going to straighten out the crime of these cities.”

The move follows Trump’s earlier decision to place the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, DC, under federal control and order about 2,000 National Guard troops into the nation’s capital, as well as the deployment of troops to Los Angeles to assist immigration officials.

Trump said he had discussed the potential Memphis deployment with Jim Vena, the chief executive officer of Union Pacific Corp. and a former board member of FedEx Corp., which is headquartered in the city.

“He said, ‘When I walk one block to my hotel, they won’t allow me to do it. They put me in an armored vehicle with bulletproof glass to take me one block,’” Trump added.

Washington Deployment

The Memphis planning follows Trump’s earlier decision to place the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, DC, under federal control and order about 2,000 National Guard troops into the nation’s capital.

The president has touted the operation as a success, claiming that crime in Washington has tumbled and noting that it enjoyed a stretch without any murders. While crime surged in Washington after the coronovirus pandemic, Justice Department data released in January showed violent crime in the city plunging to a 30-year-low.

Earlier this year, Trump deployed the National Guard to quell protests over immigration raids in Los Angeles against the wishes of California Governor Gavin Newsom. A US district court judge on Sept. 2 ruled that the deployment violated federal law and issued an order barring the use of military troops in California “to execute the laws.”

Still, the president had been stepping up his criticism of other cities, including Chicago, New Orleans, Baltimore and San Francisco, claiming that they were beset by lawlessness and disorder, as he looked to expand federal deployments beyond Washington.

Trump continued to assail Chicago and said he would have preferred to go into that city, where his efforts have drawn staunch opposition from Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson. Federal officials in recent days have intensified an immigration crackdown there.

As for Memphis, Trump said he had discussed the potential deployment with Jim Vena, the chief executive officer of Union Pacific Corp. and a former board member of FedEx Corp., which is headquartered in the city.

“He said, ‘When I walk one block to my hotel, they won’t allow me to do it. They put me in an armored vehicle with bulletproof glass to take me one block,’” Trump said.

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