Trump Launches Memphis Crime Task Force
President Donald Trump signed a presidential memorandum Monday to tackle rising crime in Memphis, Tennessee. The move mirrors his earlier crackdown on crime in Washington, D.C.
“I’m signing a presidential memorandum to establish the Memphis Safe Task Force,” Trump announced in the Oval Office. “This is very important because of the crime in Memphis and many other cities. We’ll handle it step by step, just like we did in D.C.”
Coordinated Federal Effort
Trump explained that the task force will involve the National Guard, the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Homeland Security Investigations, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
In a Friday interview with Fox & Friends, Trump called Memphis “troubled” and promised, “We’re going to fix that just like we did in Washington.”
National Guard Deployment
Earlier, Trump mobilized 800 National Guard troops to Washington on August 11 to help reduce crime. Additional troops came from Ohio, West Virginia, South Carolina, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee to support the initiative.
Trump emphasized, “The task force will be a replica of our extraordinarily successful efforts in D.C., and you’ll see it’s a lot of the same approach.”
National Guard troops act as reserve forces, activated for state or federal operations, including natural disasters. States typically oversee their own National Guard units, while the federal government directly manages the District of Columbia National Guard.
Local Reactions
Trump said Tennessee Republican Governor Bill Lee requested federal help to address Memphis crime. In contrast, Memphis Mayor Paul Young, a Democrat, told CNN he wasn’t “happy” about the deployment, signaling tensions between local and federal authorities.
