MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Trump orders National Guard deployment to Memphis

“Memphis has one of the highest rates of murder, robbery, violent assault, and property crime in the nation,” the White House insisted, based on FBI data

US President Donald Trump signed on Monday a memorandum ordering the deployment of the National Guard to Memphis, Tennessee, to combat what he calls “rampant crime.” The move establishes a “Memphis Special Security Force” to work with federal and state law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, DEA, and US Marshals, to “end street and violent crime” in the city.

The White House stated that Memphis has the highest violent crime rate in the country and that its local government has been “overwhelmed.”

“The city of Memphis, Tennessee, is suffering from a tremendous level of violent crime that has exceeded the capacity of its local government to respond effectively,” the White House said.

In the new scenario, the Secretary of War must request that the governor of Tennessee make National Guard units available to support public safety and law enforcement operations in Memphis, “the number and time the governor deems necessary and appropriate to support the activities of the task force,” the memorandum further read.

Thus, Memphis became the third US city to see such a deployment under Trump's presidency, following Los Angeles and Washington, DC. Trump claimed the DC deployment was a success, with crime “almost gone.”

Memphis' Democratic Mayor Paul Young and Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris have publicly opposed the deployment, stating they did not request the National Guard and do not believe militarizing the community was the correct way to reduce crime. Harris criticized the “occupation, armored vehicles, [and] semi-automatic weapons.” However, “Memphis has one of the highest rates of murder, robbery, violent assault, and property crime in the nation,” the White House insisted based on FBI data.

“A person is four times more likely to be murdered today in Memphis, Tenn., than in Mexico City,” Trump also pointed out. He also hinted that similar deployments could be coming to other cities, specifically mentioning Chicago, St. Louis, New Orleans, and Baltimore. “We believe Chicago will be next, and then we will go to St. Louis and New Orleans,” he foresaw.

“What's going to happen with Memphis in three, four weeks, is we're going to be together, and we're going to say, look at this. Crime is almost gone, it may be gone completely in Washington,” the Republican leader added.