In alignment with the Trump administration’s trend of combatting crime through the deployment of national guard troops to crime-ridden US cities, the White House deployed the National Guard to the Memphis, Tennessee, on Wednesday.
More than 200 members of the National Guard have been deputized specifically as special US Marshals in their deployment to Memphis. On X, US Attorney General Pam Bondi announced the progress made to date by the Memphis Safe Task Force, amounting to nearly 100 arrests.
One of the arrests included a member of Tren de Aragua, the infamous South American gang that was designated a foreign terrorist organization by President Trump early into his second term.
“In just 72 hours, our Memphis Safe Task Force is making an incredible impact in this iconic American city,” Bondi stated Thursday. “Yesterday 40 arrests were made including a Tren de Aragua terrorist, a felon in possession of a firearm, a man wanted for rape of a child, and an arrest for assault on a federal officer. To date, there have been 93 arrests and 28 illegal guns seized. Our work is saving lives.”
“It’s exactly what we did in DC., we’re using the same blueprint,” Bondi told reporters of the initiative. She ensured local police that the federal officers would “have their backs.”
War Secretary Pete Hegseth also commented on the role of the National Guard in Memphis.
“Our job here is to help liberate all of you law enforcement,” Hegseth stated Wednesday, according to News Nation. “To provide national guardsmen who can secure facilities and secure law enforcement stand alongside you so you’re free to go out and provide safety and freedom to the citizens of Memphis, a great American city.”
In June, President Trump deployed the National Guard to Los Angeles, California, amid riots stemming from local ICE raids. This was followed by a similar action in Washington, DC, along with federalizing the local police. Other cities are being looked at as possible locations for more deployments, including Portland, Oregon, and Chicago, Illinois.
