The Trump administration says a federal operation is underway in Memphis, while Portland, Ore. readies for the arrival of National Guard troops and Chicago braces for a potential deployment.
In a progress report posted on X, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said on Tuesday that 219 officers had been “special deputized,” touted nine arrests and said two illegal firearms had been confiscated.
“Our operation in Memphis is now underway, and we’re just getting started,” she wrote.
On Tuesday, Missouri Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe said he authorized the Missouri National Guard to support with “administrative, clerical, and logistical duties” at ICE processing facilities in the state. The governor’s office said about 15 Guard members will be assigned, KDSK News in St. Louis reported.
Kehoe said the move was at the request of the Trump administration. Guard members will assist Oct. 1 through September 2026.
“Missouri is proud to join in the Trump administration’s efforts to keep our state and nation secure,” Kehoe said in a statement.
On Monday, Illinois Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker said he received word that the DHS asked the Defense Department for about 100 military personnel to help protect ICE agents and facilities in Illinois. DHS did not respond to a request for comment.
It came a day after dozens of armed federal immigration agents were seen patrolling and making arrests in downtown Chicago, member station WBEZ reported.
“This is an attack on neighborhoods, on lawful residents, on U.S. citizens,” Pritzker said Monday. “That’s not preventing crime as Donald Trump claims, that’s threatening public safety.”
For weeks, President Trump has proposed sending troops to Chicago as part of a broader effort — he says — to address violent crime in various cities. The Illinois governor has warned that any National Guard deployment would be met with immediate legal action.
It comes as critics accuse Trump of testing the limits of presidential authority and the use of military force.
On Monday, Louisiana Republican Gov. Jeff Landry requested the deployment of 1,000 Guard troops throughout the state’s “urban centers” until September 2026. Landry specifically named New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and Shreveport as cities with “elevated crime rates” that need additional law enforcement support.
Memphis
On Tuesday, in an interview with Fox Business, Bondi said 219 members of the National Guard have been deputized as special U.S. Marshals. The Tennessee National Guard did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“It’s exactly what we did in D.C., we’re using the same blueprint,” she said.
Bondi added that she and Hegseth will be visiting Memphis this week, and commended the city’s mayor and state’s governor for their cooperation with the anti-crime operations.
Last week, Tennessee Republican Gov. Bill Lee said that agents from 13 U.S. agencies will begin to arrive this week, including from the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
At the time, he did not disclose how many members of the guard will be deployed, but the governor said troops will be in support roles and not tasked with making arrests. A website launched by the city government said guard members will serve as extra “eyes and ears” to local law enforcement.
Portland, Ore.
Oregon officials expect it will take at least until Thursday to prepare the National Guard for deployment — though that’s unlikely.
On Monday, Oregon Military Department spokesperson Lt. Col. Stephen Bomar told NPR it will take a minimum of four days to go through “administrative processing.”
“During the administrative processes specific issues may be discovered, which may take longer,” Bomar wrote in an email. He gave the example that some guard members’ training certificates could be expired or their medical screenings may need to be updated.
Of the 300 qualified guard members, at least 166 members of the Oregon National Guard have volunteered for deployment to Portland, member station OPB reported.
Trump on Saturday called for troops in Portland, citing the need to safeguard ICE detention facilities against what he described as “domestic terrorists.” In previous remarks, the president raised concerns about protests that took place outside ICE facilities in Portland.
State and city leaders have since filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration to block the use of troops, calling the move “overreach” and “unlawful.”
About 200 members of the National Guard were called into federal service for 60 days, according to a memo from the Defense Department to Oregon Democratic Gov. Tina Kotek, member station OPB reported.
Leaders in Washington, D.C., and California have also lodged suits against the administration, challenging the use of federal troops in recent months.
Copyright © 2025 NPR
Transcript:
AILSA CHANG, HOST:
President Trump’s federal intervention in Memphis to fight crime has begun. The operation is set to include more than a dozen federal agencies and the National Guard. Trump has also said that he is sending National Guard troops into several other cities, like Portland, Oregon, to protect federal immigration facilities. NPR’s Kat Lonsdorf has been watching all of this and joins us now from Memphis. Hi, Kat.
KAT LONSDORF, BYLINE: Hi there.
CHANG: OK, so tell us more about the operation you’re seeing out there. It started today, right?
LONSDORF: Yeah. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi tweeted today that it had begun, saying nine arrests had been made and that a joint operation center is up and running. She wrote, quote, “we’re just getting started.” That said, it doesn’t feel different in the city today. I was driving around all over and didn’t see any signs of the operation myself. Tennessee Republican Governor Bill Lee has said that this will be a slow rollout and that it’ll last for weeks, maybe months.
CHANG: Maybe months. OK, well, what have you been hearing from residents there?
LONSDORF: A majority of the folks I talked to today told me they support federal intervention in the city, even though that doesn’t necessarily mean they support Trump. But they welcome any help they can get. Memphis has one of the highest violent crime rates in the country, and while those numbers have been decreasing recently, they’re still high.
I was in the northern neighborhood of Frayser this morning, and people there told me they’re just exhausted by it, particularly the gun violence. Here’s 39-year-old Marcus Rogers. He’s an Army veteran who’s lived here all his life, and he told me he hopes having troops and federal officers on the streets might give people a much-needed sense of security.
MARCUS ROGERS: It’s not even safe going to get groceries. Going to get a carton of eggs today, it is not safe. We needed something, for sure.
LONSDORF: But others here have been protesting it, worried this will expand federal power in the city.
CHANG: OK. Well, as we mention, all of this comes as President Trump has been sending, or threatening to send, National Guard troops to several other cities. I mean, it almost…
LONSDORF: Yeah.
CHANG: …Seems like a different city is mentioned each day.
LONSDORF: Yeah.
CHANG: What kind of patterns are you seeing, Kat, in the cities that Trump is targeting?
LONSDORF: Yeah, one major pattern is whether the governors of each state agree with the move. So far, this has fallen entirely along party lines. In D.C., where National Guard troops have been deployed for more than a month, Trump has the authority to deploy them. But in states, the National Guard is ultimately under the control of the governor. So here in Tennessee, Republican Governor Bill Lee has signed off on the deployment. The governor of Louisiana, who’s also a Republican, just today requested National Guard troops to be deployed in his state as well, also to fight crime.
But then there’s the places like Portland, Oregon, and also Chicago, which Trump has threatened, or LA, where Trump did send the National Guard earlier this year. In all those cases, it has been done against the wishes of the Democratic governors of those states. It’s an unusual move and legally questionable. There’s also a larger pattern here, and that’s the normalization of armed, uniformed troops on U.S. streets, which legal experts at places like the ACLU worry is challenging this long history in the U.S. of limiting the role of the military domestically.
CHANG: That is NPR’s Kat Lonsdorf in Memphis. Thank you so much, Kat.
LONSDORF: Thank you.
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