(The Center Square) – Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said Friday afternoon that he will speak with President Donald Trump about the deployment of National Guard troops to Memphis.
The president announced the deployment on the Friday morning edition of Fox News’ Fox and Friends to address the crime problem in the city.
Lee said he has been in constant communication with Trump about Memphis for months.
“The next phase will include a comprehensive mission with the Tennessee National Guard, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Tennessee Highway Patrol, Memphis Police Department, and other law enforcement agencies, and we are working closely with the Trump administration to determine the most effective role for each of these agencies to best serve Memphians,” Lee said. “Our goal is to accelerate the positive momentum of Operation Viper – an ongoing FBI mission in Memphis with a dedicated task force of federal, state, and local law enforcement that has already arrested hundreds of the most violent offenders.”
Mayor Paul Young’s office did not immediately respond to a message from The Center Square seeking comment.
Democratic state leaders say the National Guard is not needed.
“The last time a U.S. president sent the Guard to Memphis was in 1968, after Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated at the Lorraine Motel and our community was in deep grief and unrest,” said Senate Minority Leader Raumesh Akbari, D-Memphis. “Other times the Guard was deployed to Southern cities, it was to enforce civil rights laws when segregationists refused to comply. That history matters – because what we are seeing now is not about justice, it’s about politics. This is an abuse of power, using troops to score political points off of crime statistics, even though overall crime in Memphis is down to a 25-year low.”
Senate Democratic Caucus Chairwoman Sen. London Lamar, D-Memphis, said the National Guard deployment was not a long-term solution.
“If President Trump truly wanted to help, he’d restore the hundreds of millions in police and crime prevention funding his administration cut in April,” Lamar said. “And if Tennessee Republicans were serious about safety, they’d fix our broken gun laws and invest in good jobs, safe housing and health care – the real solutions that keep families safe.”
Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., said Trump “answered her call to Make Memphis Safe Again.”
“Time and time again, he has stepped in to restore law and order in blue cities that refuse to protect their own citizens, and he’s just getting started,” Blackburn said.
