Trump says Memphis will get National Guard troops; Chicago option discussed

In a Friday Fox News interview, President Donald Trump said Memphis will receive National Guard troops, claiming the city’s Democratic mayor and the Republican governor were happy about the decision. The deployment to Memphis would mark an escalation in Trump’s use of troops and comes roughly a month after he sent the National Guard to the streets of Washington DC.

Memphis has one of the highest crime rates in the United States, with 2,501 violent crimes per 100,000 people, FBI data shows. "We’re going to Memphis," Trump said, without providing details on when troops would arrive. "Memphis is deeply troubled." He added that he also wanted to lower crime in New Orleans, Baltimore and Chicago. The broader debate over deploying troops to Chicago has been tied to Trump’s immigration-enforcement push, known as Operation Midway Blitz. On Friday, Trump indicated he had chosen Memphis over the midwestern city, saying, "I would have preferred going to Chicago." Memphis Mayor Paul Young told a news conference on Friday afternoon that he did not ask for the National Guard and did not think it was appropriate.