‘This Is Necessary’: Many Memphis Residents Happy About Trump’s National Guard Deployment

Many residents of Memphis, Tenn. have been embracing President Donald Trump’s decision to deploy the National Guard to the city as part of his broader crime crackdown.

Trump said during a Sept. 12 interview on “Fox & Friends” that he was planning to deploy National Guard troops to Memphis, calling the city “deeply troubled.” Many Memphis locals have been supportive of the roughly 150 members of the National Guard arriving there earlier in October, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on Wednesday.

“I’m looking for all the help I can get, I wish there was more,” John Green, who manages a candy store on the city’s Main Street, told the WSJ.

Green also told the outlet that business has been dismal thus far in 2025, saying “people just don’t want to come here anymore.” Meanwhile, George Campbell, a 64-year-old psychologist based in Memphis, told the WSJ that the National Guard troops in the city had helped to calm concerns about violent crime.

“It’s safe. What happened? Control is what happened,” Campbell said. “It was out of control. This is necessary.”

Memphis has the highest rate of violent crime in the U.S., with 2,501 instances of violent crime for every 100,000 people, WSMV, a Nashville-based affiliate of NBC, reported