What to know about the National Guard and federal agencies coming to Memphis

Nashville, Tennessee – President Donald Trump has deployed more than 2,000 soldiers of the National Guard in Washington, DC, in a mission centered on crime, and now he wants a replica of this in Memphis, but the first plans show key differences.

The republican governor of Tennessee, Bill Lee, said publicly that he would not expect more than 150 members of the National Guard to be sent to Memphis, although he said that the figures were not solidified. The city said there would be no tanks. And guard troops will not be armed unless local authorities ask, said Lee.

Next week, Memphis will get his first share of additional federal officers. In waves during the weeks and months, they will come from 13 federal agencies, ranging from immigration to the application of drugs. The members of the guard will not arrest, said Lee.

The mainly-black city also presents differences struck in relation to the national capital. It is about four times more expansive with nearly 100,000 less residents.

Here is how Memphis corresponds to the Trump deployment plan:

In the growth of Tennessee, the population of Memphis has decreased, with nearly 611,000 people on nearly 300 square miles (776 square kilometers). Washington includes around 702,000 people out of approximately 68 square miles (176 square kilometers).

Memphis sees about half of the number of visitors a year like Washington, with its widest tourist visits. Memphis could also see troops in tourist sites.

Thaddeus Johnson, former police commander of Memphis and principal member of the Council of Criminal Justice, worries the presence of troops could worsen the economy of Memphis.

“Imagine a place like Memphis who cannot already compete in these things, they have trouble with tourism and brought people to feel safe,” said Johnson. “I don’t know if it will bring businesses.”

Johnson said that it is important that people feel safe in very visited areas, but some districts have greater needs. Lee has promised a long -term effort, but Johnson said that if follow -up was not enough, the situation could get worse before it improves.

Lee’s estimate of 150 members of the National Guard came with the warning that he is not finalized, and he hesitated to repeat it. And while the authorities of the FBI, the Drug Encommon Administration and the Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives will be in town next week, you don’t know when the members of the Guard arrive. Lee also said that 300 Tennessee Highway Patrol soldiers will be in the region.

The order of Trump of September 15 creating the Memphis working group calls for a “large -scale saturation of the districts besieged to the staff of the law application” and “the strict application of the applicable laws of quality of life, nuisance and public security”.

Lee said that the members of the National Guard will come from Tennessee, the vast majority of them, the military police, trained for the police. He announced an additional $ 100 million from the State for public security subsidies for Memphis.

The mayor of Memphis, Paul Young, a Democrat, said that the officials of Washington City told him that the guard was more “large -scale neighborhood surveillance than the front line police”.

Young said he hadn’t asked for the goalkeeper’s deployment and doesn’t think that would reduce crime. He thinks that the guard can help the most to Memphis thanks to the embellishment: “erase more vacant terrains, remove more waste and restore more blocks”.

He also called for a federal hand in homeless services, “from housing to small houses, from work preparation to mental health support”. Housing and health and social services agencies are part of the Memphis working group.

Last month, Trump appeared in a Memphis radio program in which the host Todd Starnes asked him if there was something that the president could do to help the city. Trump said what they were doing in Washington was “in a way a test” and, as far as Memphis is concerned, he said he was happy that Starnes mentioned the city and that he “can put this early on the list”.

Memphis was part of the FBI director of the director of the FBI, Kash Patel, in May, when he called it “the homicide capital of America per capita” in an interview with Fox News.

“I didn’t know,” said Patel. “We have a problem there. We are talking about it now. ”

Lee said Patel visited him at the Tennessee Capitol. Since May, the FBI says that a Memphis operation has arrested some 500 people and has produced 101 acts of federal accusation of violent criminals.

Then, on September 12, Trump announced that he would send the National Guard to Memphis. He joked that Chicago was his preference, where local politicians fiercely resisted his plans, but he said that the city was too “hostile” with “professional agitators”.

In Los Angeles, on the other hand, Trump deployed around 4,000 troops from the National Guard and 700 navies after days of protests against immigration raids.

During the September announcement, Trump said he decided to send troops to Memphis after the CEO of Union Pacific Jim Vena – who regularly visited the city while he was on the board of directors of Fedex – exhorted him earlier in the week to remedy the crime.

Memphis has endured armed violence problems for years. In 2023, the city saw a record of more than 390 homicides and specific killings made the headlines. But democratic and republican officials noted that Memphis notes recent decreases in certain categories of crimes.

During the first eight months of 2025 compared to the same period in previous years, Memphis police reported that global crime had reached a 25 -year -old hollow and murdering a hollow of six years. Johnson, with the Criminal Justice Council, said that the city should still provide more nuances because police statistics are based on total incidents, not the number of victims.

A study of the Criminal Justice Council of approximately 30 to 40 American cities revealed that the homicide rate in Memphis was among the highest from 2018 to June 2025, and that its rate was 58% higher in the first half of 2025 compared to the pre-pandemic decrease in 2019. The average change in the major cities studied was a reduction of 14%.

The rate of Memphis in the middle of 2025 fell by 21% below its homicide peak in 2023.

The city has exceeded others in recent drops in car flight and motor vehicles, and has almost medium -sized drop in the flight and a residential and non -residential burglary, the study revealed. Despite a recent drop, the flight of motor vehicles remained well above the 2019 levels.

Young said that even with rate drops, work remains “to get crime at a level where people really feel it”.