National Guard troops were patrolling in Tennessee’s second-largest city for the first time Friday without the legal challenges, protests and vigorous public criticism that ultimately led to a court-ordered halt of soldiers in the Chicago area.
At least nine armed Guard members began their patrol at the Bass Pro Shops located at the Pyramid, an iconic landmark in Memphis, and a nearby tourist welcome center along the Mississippi River. Wearing Guard fatigues and protective vests labeled “military police,” they were being escorted by a local police officer and posed for photos with visitors.
It was unclear how many Guard members were on the ground or were expected to arrive later.
Mayor Paul Young, a Democrat, said he never requested that the Guard come to Memphis. But after President Donald Trump made the Sept. 15 announcement and Republican Gov. Bill Lee agreed, Young and others said they wanted the task force to focus on targeting violent offenders rather than use their presence to scare, harass or intimidate the general public.
Police Chief Cerelyn “CJ” Davis said Wednesday she hoped Guard personnel would help direct traffic and have a presence in “retail corridors,” but not be used to operate checkpoints or anything similar.
Lee previously said troops would not make arrests and would not be armed unless local law enforcement officials request it.
For years, Memphis, whose population exceeds 600,000, has dealt with high violent crime, including assaults, carjackings and homicides. While this year’s statistics show improvement in several categories, including murders, many acknowledge that violence remains a problem.
Federal officials say hundreds of arrests and more than 2,800 traffic citations have been made since the task force began operating in Memphis on Sept. 29. Arrest categories include active warrants, drugs, firearms and sex offenses, according to the U.S. Marshals Service. Four arrests have been made on homicide charges, the Marshals Service said.
Some residents said the Guard is not what Memphis needs.
“Totally useless, worthless, not called for because the money that they’re gonna spend on that — if they would give it to us to let us do improvements in our city,” said Loretta Davis, who emphasized that young people need more options.
An ongoing legal battle
Friday’s development comes a day after a federal judge in Illinois blocked deployment of troops in the Chicago area for at least two weeks.
The on-again, off-again deployments stem from a political and legal battle over Trump’s push to send the Guard to several U.S. cities. His administration claims crime is rampant in those cities, despite statistics not always supporting that.
If a president invokes the Insurrection Act, they can dispatch active duty military in states that fail to put down an insurrection or defy federal law. However, the judge in Chicago said she found no substantial evidence that a “danger of rebellion” is brewing in Illinois during Trump’s immigration crackdown.
The court order offered a victory for Democratic officials who lead the state and city and who have called the deployments unnecessary and illegal.
“The court confirmed what we all know: There is no credible evidence of a rebellion in the state of Illinois. And no place for the National Guard in the streets of American cities like Chicago,” Gov. JB Pritzker said.
The order in Illinois is set to expire Oct. 23 at 11:59 p.m. U.S. District Judge April Perry set an Oct. 22 hearing to determine if it should be extended for another 14 days.
It wasn’t clear what the 500 Guard members from Texas and Illinois would do next. They were mostly based at a U.S. Army Reserve Center in Elwood, southwest of Chicago. A small number were sent to a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in Broadview, which for weeks has been home to occasional clashes between protesters and federal agents.
The Defense Department declined to comment. The troops had been activated for 60 days.
U.S. Justice Department lawyer Eric Hamilton told the judge that the Guard’s mission would be to protect federal properties and government law enforcers in the field, not “solving all of crime in Chicago.”
Deployment in Portland remains on hold
A federal appeals court heard arguments Thursday over whether Trump had the authority to take control of 200 Oregon Guard troops. The president had planned to deploy them in Portland, where there have been small nightly protests outside an ICE building.
A judge last Sunday granted a temporary restraining order blocking the move. Trump had mobilized California troops for Portland just hours after the judge first blocked him from using Oregon’s Guard.
Two dozen other states with a Democratic attorney general or governor signed a court filing in support of the legal challenge by California and Oregon. Twenty others, led by Iowa, backed the Trump administration.
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