Former President Donald Trump on Monday announced the deployment of National Guard troops to Memphis as part of a new initiative aimed at curbing rising urban crime in the city. The move is being seen by the Trump administration as an expansion of the federal strategy to tackle crime in Democratic-ruled cities.
Trump announced the formation of the “Memphis Safe Task Force” and signed a presidential memorandum during an event held in the Oval Office. During this, Republican Governor of Tennessee Bill Lee was also present with Trump and he supported this decision.
Trump said, “We are going to fix this situation, just like we did in Washington D.C.”
According to the announcement, this task force will work in coordination with federal agencies like FBI, ATF, DEA, ICE, U.S. Marshals and Department of Justice. The President said that his goal is to make Memphis a safe city again by making it crime-free.
Governor Lee supported Trump’s decision, saying, “I am tired of seeing a great city like Memphis fall prey to crime.”
Trump told Governor Lee that this move would prove to be his “proudest moment” and expressed confidence that the city would see a decline in crime rates in the coming weeks.
Trump was also accompanied by Republican Senators Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty from Tennessee.
Notably, Trump recently deployed the National Guard in Washington D.C., where the violent crime rate was already at its lowest in 30 years.
Now all eyes are on where Trump will take his next step. There is some speculation that Chicago could be the next possible target of this plan, although Democratic Governor JB Pritzker and local leaders there have strongly opposed it.
However, Trump clarified, “Even if we do not get the cooperation of the state government, we will still take necessary action. We cannot leave Chicago like this.”
Apart from this, Trump has also included St. Louis, New Orleans and Baltimore in the list of cities where such federal action can be taken in future.