President Donald Trump has announced plans to deploy the National Guard to Memphis, Tennessee, to combat crime — despite city data showing crime is at a 25-year low. The move marks his latest effort to use federal troops in U.S. cities, testing the limits of presidential power and reigniting debate over military involvement in civilian policing.
Speaking on Fox News Friday, Trump described Memphis as “deeply troubled” and said both Tennessee’s governor and Memphis’s mayor supported the plan. But Mayor Paul Young quickly pushed back, saying he did not request troops and prefers investments in rehabilitation, mental health care, jobs, and housing to address root causes of violence.
Governor Bill Lee, a Republican, welcomed the deployment and said he would speak with Trump to finalize details. Lee called the move part of a broader operation with the FBI and state agencies that has already arrested “hundreds of the most violent offenders.” Tennessee’s two Republican senators and several state legislators praised the move, while critics argued that military troops are not trained for civilian law enforcement and risk inflaming tensions.
The decision comes after Memphis police reported drops across every major crime category in 2025, including a six-year low in murders. Despite these improvements, Memphis has faced high-profile crimes in recent years — including the killing of rapper Young Dolph in 2021 and a 2022 citywide shooting rampage that killed three.
Legal experts and civil rights advocates are questioning whether a deployment is justified. The ACLU warned that using soldiers for law enforcement could erode constitutional protections and intimidate communities. Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy urged federal officials to send more trained FBI agents instead of troops, calling such short-term deployments “performative” with little lasting impact.
Trump has previously deployed the National Guard to Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., sometimes against the wishes of local leaders, and has hinted at sending troops to New Orleans and Chicago. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker criticized Trump’s tactics, accusing him of using the military as “political props” and celebrating that Chicago avoided a deployment.