President Donald Trump said Friday he’ll send the National Guard to Memphis to address crime concerns there with the support of the mayor and the governor.
Trump, a Republican, said on Fox News Channel “the mayor is happy” and “the governor is happy” about the pending deployment. The mayor is a Democrat, and the governor is a Republican.
He said the city is “deeply troubled” and “we’re going to fix that just like we did Washington,” where he’s sent National Guard and surged federal law enforcement.
Since sending the National Guard to Los Angeles and Washington, Trump has openly mused about sending troops to some of the nation’s most Democratic cities — including Chicago and Baltimore — claiming they are needed to crack down on crime.
Trump said he “would have preferred going to Chicago,” where local politicians have fiercely resisted his plans, but he suggested it was a “hostile” place with “professional agitators.”
In a social media post, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, who has vehemently opposed federal intervention, called it “disturbing that the [p]resident is hellbent on sending troops onto America’s streets.
“Using those who serve in uniform as political props is insulting,” Pritzker wrote. “None of this is normal.”
Trump first deployed troops to Los Angeles in early June over Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom’s objections by putting the California National Guard under federal jurisdiction, known as Title 10, to protect federal property from protests over immigration raids.
Besides 4,000 guard members, Trump later sent 700 active duty Marines, and California sued over the intervention. The guard went on to help protect officers during immigration arrests.
Meanwhile, the unique status of the District of Columbia National Guard — Trump is its commander in chief — means he has been able to use it for everything from armed patrols to trash cleanup without any legal issues. Because it is on state and not federal orders, legal restrictions on law enforcement don’t come into effect.
Contributing: Mitchell Armentrout