By Hanna Park and Adam Cancryn, CNN
US President Donald Trump. Photo: MANDEL NGAN / AFP
President Donald Trump says that he's taking executive action to establish a "Memphis Safe Task Force" aimed at leading a crime crackdown, leaving the Tennessee city bracing for the potential arrival of the National Guard as Trump's administration intensifies its efforts to crack down on crime across the nation's major cities.
The move to establish a "Memphis Safe Task Force" will mirror the stepped-up law enforcement effort that the federal government oversaw in Washington, DC.
Trump added that after Memphis, he planned to send a similar federal task force to Chicago.
"It's very important because of the crime that's going on, not only in Memphis, in many cities," Trump said from the Oval Office, where he was set to sign a presidential memorandum creating the task force.
"The task force will be a replica of our extraordinarily successful efforts here, and you'll see it's a lot of the same thing."
Speaking to CNN, Mayor Paul Young said on Saturday (US Time) he was "not happy" about the National Guard potentially coming to his city, but that he was looking for ways to invest in addressing crime in the city.
Memphis Mayor Paul Young discusses President Donald Trump’s announcement that he will be sending National Guard troops to the city during a press conference on September 12. Photo: Chris Day/The Commercial Appeal/USA TODAY NETWORK/Imagn Images via CNN Newsource
The potential deployment is part of Trump's broader effort to expand his anti-crime push nationwide and would mark the first such effort in a Republican state, at a time when the president has faced increasing scrutiny for his targeting of Democratic-led cities.
Tennessee Republicans, including Governor Bill Lee, have welcomed the announcement, with Lee saying on Friday (US Time) he had been in touch with Trump to develop a plan to fight crime in the city.
Trump turns his sights on Memphis
The announcement to deploy troops to Memphis comes after weeks of speculation that Chicago was the next city to be targeted by the Trump administration.
But Trump's plans were earlier shelved after advisers warned him that sending in troops to help with local law enforcement without buy-in from the state's governor could create legal headaches they wanted to avoid, sources familiar with the matter told CNN.
While he had privately argued he had the power to send the National Guard where he wants, Trump was instead setting his sights on Memphis, where the state's Republican leadership was willing to accept federal help, the sources said.
Mayor Young said Trump's televised announcement on Fox News was the first definitive confirmation he heard of the plans to deploy the National Guard to his city.
Young told CNN that he learned the idea was under consideration when Republican Governor Bill Lee's office informed him earlier in the week.
The Democratic mayor said he had been talking with the governor's office about the possibility of getting more law enforcement presence through the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
A Memphis police officer sits on the hood of a patrol car on historic Beale Street after President Donald Trump says the US would deploy the National Guard to Memphis, in Memphis, Tennessee on September 12. Photo: Karen Pulfer Focht/Reuters via CNN Newsource
While many elements of the operation are still being finalised, the first troops had been expected to be deployed as soon as this week.
The Trump administration's Memphis plans will mirror their DC crackdown, including forming a task force with local law enforcement, sources said.
Unlike blue states, DC's status as a federal district allows the administration to more easily secure cooperation from the city's Democratic mayor.
Young told CNN he expected more details this week, including the number of troops, their arrival date and their duties. He suggested the guard might assist with traffic control for major events, monitoring surveillance cameras or neighbourhood "beautification" efforts.
Last week, Young briefed city council members and held a conference call with business leaders to prepare for the guard's potential arrival, CNN affiliate WATN reported.
'It's about crime'
A White House official said the president's decision to deploy National Guard troops to Memphis was about crime.
"In 2024 Memphis had the highest violent crime rate, highest property crime rate and third highest murder rate in the US (Trump) wants to make all cities in America safe again and it's great that local officials in Memphis are welcoming his help," the White House official said.
Just days before Trump's announcement, Memphis police had reported significant progress, with drops in every major crime category in the first eight months of 2025 compared with the same period in previous years. Overall crime hit a 25-year low, and murder a six-year low, police said.
Local leaders have urged the governor to reconsider the president's push to send National Guard troops to the city.
Lee Harris, the mayor of Shelby County - where Memphis is located - called the deployment a threat to democracy and city council members have called for restored federal funding for violence-prevention programs instead of a military presence.
State Representative Justin J. Pearson, whose district includes parts of Memphis and Shelby County, said on Monday (US Time) "there is no red carpet being laid out" for the National Guard.
"A militarised occupation of our city is not a resolution to the problems that we have," Pearson said at a Shelby County Democratic Party news conference on Monday (US Time) at Memphis city hall.
"What we need is poverty eradication, not military occupation," Pearson said.
"So don't bring the National Guard. Give us the resources that we need for our people, for our city, for our county."
Young noted a previous time the National Guard was deployed to Memphis, in 1968 following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. The National Guard was also in Memphis in 1978 after Memphis police and firefighters' unions went on strike.
"We don't want to invoke those same images here," Young told CNN, referring to the 1968 deployment.
National Guard deployments
Since deploying the National Guard to Los Angeles in June and to Washington, DC, last month, the Trump administration has threatened to send troops to several other Democratic-led cities like Baltimore and Portland.
Trump's decision to assert federal control over Washington's police force and deploy the National Guard to patrol the capital marked an unprecedented move and one he claimed was necessary to fight crime. But critics have called it a "dangerous power grab".
While crime has decreased in Washington, DC, under the federal emergency, it's not true that there's "no crime", as Trump has often repeated.
The president's authority over DC's National Guard and police stems from the city's federal status, but his power doesn't extend to states.
Trump's earlier attempts to deploy the National Guard have faced legal challenges.
In June, he sent 2,000 California Guard troops to Los Angeles against Governor Gavin Newsom's will, citing protests against aggressive immigration raids.
Newsom took the decision to court, where a federal judge ruled the deployment was illegal. The administration said it would appeal the decision.
- CNN
