President Donald Trump on Saturday said the “only reason crime is somewhat down” in Memphis is because he deployed the FBI and federal officers months ago to address what he described as “absolutely terrible crime numbers.”
In a Truth Social post, Trump said he has taken similar action in Chicago and Los Angeles. “But the real work by us has barely begun,” he said. “That happens after we make the official announcement that WE’RE COMING, and when we do that, as we did in now VERY SAFE Washington, D.C., the no crime ‘miracle’ begins. ONLY I CAN SAVE THEM!!!”
The remarks came one day after Trump announced plans to send National Guard troops to Memphis to combat violent crime. According to White House data, the city recorded the highest violent crime rate and the third-highest murder rate in the U.S. in 2024, with nearly 150 homicides so far this year.
Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., praised the move, thanking Trump, FBI Director Kash Patel, and Attorney General Pam Bondi for their efforts. “Time and time again, President Trump has stepped in to restore law and order in blue cities that refuse to protect their own citizens,” Blackburn said.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee also welcomed the deployment. “Memphis remains on a path to greatness, and we are not going to let anything hold them back,” Lee said.
But not all local leaders agreed. Memphis Mayor Paul Young, a Democrat, said he did not request Guard troops. “I don’t think it’s the way to drive down crime,” Young said, though he conceded the city remains too high on “bad lists.”
Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris called the decision “disappointing, anti-democratic and” a potential violation of U.S. law. “In the short term, the president’s incursion will likely cause confusion and fear in many of our communities,” Harris said. “In the long term, the mark of Tennessee communities being occupied by federal forces will hurt our state’s reputation for generations.”
A federal appeals court this month temporarily lifted restrictions placed on President Donald Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops in Los Angeles, pausing a lower court ruling that said the operation violated federal law.
In a short order less than 100 words long, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted the administration’s request for an “administrative stay” of U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer’s Sept. 2 decision. Breyer, based in San Francisco, had found the Guard’s involvement in certain law enforcement activities ran afoul of the Posse Comitatus Act, an 1878 statute that bars federal troops from engaging in domestic policing.
The appeals court emphasized its ruling was procedural, not substantive.
“The request for an administrative stay is GRANTED,” the panel wrote, adding that the step “is only intended to preserve the status quo until the substantive motion for a stay pending appeal can be considered on the merits, and does not constitute in any way a decision as to the merits.”
Breyer’s earlier order had allowed troops to remain in the city to guard federal facilities but prohibited them from making arrests, conducting crowd control, or otherwise engaging directly in policing. He delayed enforcement of that order until Sept. 12 to give the government time to appeal.
The administration argued that Breyer’s restrictions jeopardized public safety and interfered with presidential authority over the military. “The district court’s order impinges on the Commander in Chief’s supervision of military operations, countermands a military directive, and puts federal officers (and others) in harm’s way,” government lawyers wrote in their appeal.
Trump initially deployed thousands of Guard members and Marines to Los Angeles in June, after immigration-related protests escalated into riots in parts of the city. Most of the forces have since returned home, but about 300 remain in the area.