NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Memphis’ mayor said Saturday that President Donald Trump’s TV announcement the day before was the first hard confirmation he received that the National Guard would be sent to the city an anti-crime mission.
Speaking on CNN, Mayor Paul Young said he learned the idea was under consideration when Republican Gov. Bill Lee’s office informed him earlier in the week. The Democratic mayor said conversations continued throughout the week, and he had been talking 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.
Then, on Friday morning, Trump made his announcement on Fox News. He said Memphis is “deeply troubled” and “we’re going to fix that just like we did Washington,” where he deployed the National Guard and surged federal law enforcement.
Asked on CNN whether he had “hard confirmation” before Trump’s announcement, Young said: “No, that was the confirmation.”
Days earlier Memphis police reported 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.
But Memphis has dealt with stubborn gun violence problems for years. In 2023 the city saw a record 390 homicides.
The city also is still wrestling with fallout from the January 2023 death of Tyre Nichols after he was beaten by Memphis police officers. In December the Department of Justice under then-President Joe Biden found a host of civil rights violations in the police department, part of an investigation spurred by Nichols’ death. The findings included the use of excessive force, illegal traffic stops and disproportionate targeting of Black people in the majority-Black city.
In May, now under the Trump administration, the department withdrew those findings.
Details remain in flux
The governor has said how the guard will factor into efforts to tackle crime is still being ironed out. Lee and Trump talked Friday and plan to do so again early next coming week, his spokesperson Elizabeth Lane Johnson said. The governor has said the deployment would add momentum to an ongoing FBI operation alongside state and local law enforcement that “has already arrested hundreds of the most violent offenders.”
The mayor said Saturday that the specifics remain unknown about how many troops will come and when, their exact role and more. He expects to learn more next week.
Asked what he would recommend the National Guard focus on in Memphis, Young suggested tasks such as support for big events, including traffic assistance. He also said they could assist law enforcement in monitoring cameras and call in backup when they see criminal activity, or lend a hand with neighborhood “beautification.”
Mayor not ‘happy’ about deployment
Young has disputed Trump’s assertion that the mayor is “happy” about the introduction of the National Guard. He has said he did not ask for a deployment and does not think it will reduce crime. But he acknowledged that the city has remained high on too many “bad lists,” and since the deployment has been decided, he wants to ”drive how they engage in our city.”
Young said he understands the fears within the Memphis community and noted that the National Guard was deployed there in 1968 after Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated.
“We don’t want to invoke those same images here,” Young said.
National Guard’s roles
The guard also helped enforce school integration in Clinton in 1956.
Its troops have been deployed for aid in many large-scale disasters, such as floods, winter storms, Hurricane Helene and wildfires. They filled roles during the COVID-19 pandemic, including help in testing operations.
They also have been on the ground in Tennessee and elsewhere during tense moments, such as protests in both Washington and on the state Capitol grounds after George Floyd’s killing. The governor deployed them for some Trump-driven initiatives, including going to the southern border; doing administrative work for federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the state; and returning to Washington under the president’s recent crime-centered mission.
The scene in Washington
In Washington the National Guard deployment of about 2,000 troops from seven states and the D.C. guard units continues although Trump’s emergency order lapsed when Congress did not extend it.
A heavy presence of armed troops remains in many public spaces traveled by tourists and visitors, including Union Station and several metro rail platforms.
Because Washington is a federal city, the guard is directly under the president’s command, making the situation somewhat different than in Memphis.
Governors control their state’s guards; it is unclear whether Memphis could see out-of-state troops.
Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser has acknowledged that the city’s future includes federal law authorities doing what is more basic local work. Bowser has set up an operation center to push better coordination and communications between the Metropolitan Police and those agencies.
The one agency she has omitted from talks about cooperation is the Immigration and Naturalization Service, which has rounded up hundreds of people.
On Friday agents from Homeland Security Investigations, the FBI and the Metropolitan Police worked security side by side at a high school football game, the same day the mayor and school officials announced changes in attendance because of violence between fans at recent games.
Associated Press writer Gary Fields in Washington contributed.