Trump announces the federal repression against crime in Memphis, Tennessee

US President Donald Trump, joined by Tennessee Republican Governor Bill Lee created a working group on Monday to face crime in Memphis, Tennessee.

The city led by Democrat is the second to face a repression of the Trump administration against crime, after Washington DC.

Trump promised to “repair” the city after the plans for implementing an operation similar to Chicago, which would have been due to the opposition of local officials and the State.

The mayor of Memphis, Paul Young, also expressed his opposition to the plan, arguing that the crime is already falling without federal intervention.

The president however said on Monday that Memphis was “invaded” by car cars, flights and shots, as well as other crimes.

“We are no longer going to allow this kind of savagery to destroy our company,” said Trump at a signature of memorandum in the oval office.

“We are going to take care of all step by step, just as we did in DC. We have practically no crime at DC at the moment, and we will keep it like that,” he said, noting that he always had his views on Chicago and St Louis, Missouri.

Memphis’ working group will be a “replica of efforts” to Washington DC, said Trump, adding that he will activate the federal agencies, including the National Guard, the FBI, immigration and the application of customs, and the office of alcohol, tobacco, firearms and explosives (ATF) and the Ministry of Justice.

Lee praised his efforts to “lower supported crimes” in the state.

In an interview with CNN on Saturday, Young said he was “not happy” federal plans to deploy the National Guard to Memphis – he said the plan had been confirmed by Trump on Fox News the day before.

“My goal is to make sure that if they actually happen, we have the opportunity to conduct some of the decisions about how they get involved in our community,” he said.

“This is something in which we have no choice,” he added. “We are going to do everything we can to make sure that it has a limited impact on our communities.”

State -of -the -art republican legislators – including Governor Lee – have expressed their support.

The governor said last week that he was already working on a plan with the White House which would bring “the complete extent of federal and state resources” to bear in Memphis.

The 2024 FBI statistics show that Memphis has 2,501 violent crimes per 100,000 people, one of the highest rates in any American city.

The BBC verifies the analysis of FBI crime statistics for several American cities revealed that in 2024, Memphis exceeded the classification of homicide rates with 41 homicides per 100,000 people.

It was followed by Baltimore with 35 homicides per 100,000 people. Chicago ranked tenth in 37 American cities with a population of more than 500,000 inhabitants.

The proclamation comes after weeks of speculation in the place where it could then deploy federal resources to combat crime.

In addition to Chicago, the president had mentioned New Orleans – welcomed by the governor of Louisiana Jeff Landry – and Baltimore.

On August 11, Trump took care of the Washington DC police service and also activated the units of the National Guard and began a wave of federal law agents.

More than 2,000 arrests have been carried out and hundreds of illegal firearms since then, what administration officials have pointed out several times as signs of their strategy in the city.

Surveys show, however, that the deployment of national guard troops in the city is unpopular among many local residents, and legal experts have questioned the legality of the use of troops in American cities.

Earlier in September, a Federal California judge judged that the deployment of troops by Trump to repress the troubles in Los Angeles this summer was illegal, although the decision does not apply to other cities.