Trump Targets Memphis Crime With Strategy Proven In Washington, D.C.

President Donald Trump on Monday signed a memo directing a crackdown on crime in Memphis, Tennessee, using a strategy similar to the one deployed in Washington, D.C.

The memo establishes the Memphis Safe Task Force and directs the Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, to request control of the Tennessee National Guard from the governor. Trump’s Monday directive followed a request from Tennessee Republican Governor Bill Lee for help fighting crime in Memphis.

“This task force will be a replica of our extraordinarily successful efforts here (in Washington, D.C.), and you’ll see it’s a lot of the same thing,” Trump said in an Oval Office signing ceremony flanked by top Tennessee and federal law enforcement officials. “Now, we did send the FBI in about four months ago to work, and it brought some of the numbers down, and they did a great job, but we’re sending in the big force now.”

.@POTUS: “Today, at the request of @GovBillLee of Tennessee… I’m signing a Presidential Memorandum to establish the Memphis Safe Task Force — and it’s very important because of the crime that’s going on.” pic.twitter.com/8fflcbietz

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) September 15, 2025

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) credited FBI Director Kash Patel with the work done by his agency to drop crime in Memphis over the summer through “Operation Viper.”

“There have been over 500 arrests, there are over 100 indictments, and Memphis had the best stats they have had in years this past August, last month. It was the best August they have had, and it’s because of the work that’s been done,” Blackburn said.

While the plan to combat crime in Memphis includes National Guard members posted in the city, it relies on partnerships between state, local, and federal law enforcement to combat crime. The law enforcement agencies involved include the Drug Enforcement Agency, Tennessee Highway Patrol, and Memphis Police Department, according to Lee’s office.

During his remarks at the White House, Trump said that Chicago is “probably next” to receive a deployment from the National Guard after Memphis. It’s unclear how Trump plans to allocate federal resources to Chicago. Unlike in Tennessee, the president faces a hostile governor in Illinois who would almost certainly refuse to cooperate with any effort to send federal resources into Chicago.

“Mr. President, do not come to Chicago. You are neither wanted here nor needed here,” Pritzker said last month.