Trump Says He's Sending National Guard to Memphis

President Trump has announced that National Guard troops will be sent to Memphis to address what he described as persistent crime problems in the "deeply troubled" city. "We're going to Memphis," the president said during a Fox & Friends appearance Friday morning. According to a USA Today analysis of FBI statistics, the Tennessee city had the nation's highest rate of murder and violent crime last year by a considerable margin, with 2,501 violent crimes per 100,000 residents. Detroit was in second place, with 1,781. "We're going to fix that just like we did Washington," Trump said. "We'll straighten that out, National Guard and anybody else we need," he said. "And by the way, we'll bring in the military, too, if we need it, but National Guard, but Memphis is, look, it's a great, music city."

Trump said the move had the support of Republican Gov. Bill Lee and Memphis Mayor Paul Young, CNN reports. "The mayor is happy, he's a Democrat mayor, the mayor is happy," Trump said. "And the governor, Tennessee, the governor is happy." A source tells the Commercial Appeal, however, that while Lee, Young, and Sen. Bill Hagerty have been in discussions for months about sending additional resources to tackle crime in Memphis, the conversations did not involve the National Guard and they were "blindsided" when the administration recently proposed the move.

In a statement Thursday, Young didn't directly say whether he supports sending in troops, the Commercial Appeal reports. "What we need most are financial resources for intervention and prevention, additional patrol officers and case support" to strengthen the Memphis Police Department's investigations, he said. Previous deployments to Los Angeles and Washington, DC, led to lawsuits from local officials, but the operation is likely to be smoother with Lee's support, USA Today notes. In California, the National Guard was sent in against the government's wishes, but when a governor consents to the deployments, the troops can make arrests without violating federal law.