Trump says he’ll send National Guard to Memphis to combat crime

(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump said Friday that he will send National Guard troops to Memphis, Tennessee, as part of his push to combat crime.

The president said on “Fox & Friends” that he wanted to replicate the results of his deployment of the National Guard in Washington, D.C.

“Memphis is deeply troubled,” he said during the interview. “We’re going to fix that, just like we did in Washington.”

Trump said part of the crime crackdown could include federal forces, National Guard and even “the military, too,” if needed into Memphis.

“And anybody else we need,” Trump said of the forces he planned to send into Memphis.

Trump has said that local leaders across the country should ask for federal help and indicated that he has such backing from Tennessee officials.

“The mayor is happy. He’s a Democrat mayor, the mayor is happy. And the governor, Tennessee, the governor is happy,” he said.

Representatives for the Republican Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee’s office and Democratic Memphis Mayor Paul Young’s office didn’t immediately return messages to ABC News for comment.

Memphis has seen a drop in crime over the last year, according to data from the city.

There have been 29,978 reported crime incidents in Memphis in 2025 as of Sept. 11, a roughly 44% drop from the same period in 2024 when there were 53,805 reported incidents, according to the data.

Homicides in the city dropped nearly 30% during the year with 182 reported incidents in 2025 so far compared to 261 during the same period last year, the data showed.

Trump’s comments on Friday come amid his push to crack down on crime nationwide — including his federal law enforcement surge in Washington, D.C.

However, before Trump began his deployment, the city had seen a two-year decline in crimes, according to police data. As of Friday, there have been 17,806 reported crime incidents in the city so far this year, compared to 19,501 during the same period last year — a nearly 8% drop, the data showed.

Washington, D.C., Attorney General Brian L. Schwalb filed a lawsuit last week that sought to end the D.C. Guard deployment arguing it was a “military occupation.”

Critics have noted that the president has focused his threats of federal deployments on cities that are led by Democratic mayors.

For the last few weeks, Trump has made threats that he was going to send National Guard troops to Chicago, citing its crime rate, and was met with vocal protests from Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Mayor Brandon Johnson.

“I want to help people, not hurt them,’ says the guy who just threatened an American city with the Department of War,” Pritzker wrote on X on Monday

The president continued to argue that federal intervention was needed in Chicago.

“You’re about to lose Chicago,” Trump said Friday. “I can fix Chicago, much bigger than D.C., but we can bring in the military. We can bring in the National Guard. We’ll do what we have to do.”

ABC News’ Oren Oppenheim contributed to this report.