National guard troops began walking the streets of Memphis a year ago this week, as part of a federal surge of law enforcement agents sent into the city at the behest of the Trump administration to reduce violent crime.
asserted
troops → walk → crime
Fewer soldiers are on the street today, as the city’s grudging initial acceptance of the president’s deployment has given way to doubts about their effectiveness, focus and respect for civil rights – particularly after four men were killed in gunfire by federal agents working with the taskforce, with a recent autopsy showing that one was shot in the back.
asserted
one → give → back
Donald Trump signed an executive order last September directing a surge of federal law enforcement agents from the ATF, FBI, Department of Homeland Security and other agencies into Memphis.
asserted
Trump → sign → Memphis
A month later, Tennessee’s Republican governor, Bill Lee, paired that with additional state patrol officers and the activation of 1,500 Tennessee national guard members to patrol the streets of downtown Memphis.
asserted
governor → pair → Memphis
The Memphis Safe Task Force claims credit for deep reductions in the violent crime rate.
uncertain
Force → claim → rate
And while the city is on track for the lowest rate of homicides in decades, independent analysis argues the deployment of the national guard has had no statistically measurable impact on violent crime and that violence would have fallen in Memphis much like it has across the country in cities without similar interventions.
asserted
it → argue → interventions
Memphis’s headline-driving homicide rate has fallen about 35% since the start of the taskforce.
asserted
rate → drive → taskforce
Murders in the city’s second quarter decreased by 60% year over year, according to reports from the Memphis police department.
uncertain
Murders → decrease → department
But Memphis had a 26% decrease from 249 murders reported in 2024 to 184 in 2025, before the taskforce was deployed.
asserted
taskforce → have → 2025
A year to the day from the start of the Memphis Safe Task Force, Memphis reported 96 murders, compared with 149 the previous year.
asserted
Memphis → report → 149
“The taskforce has been very successful and we appreciate the work the Tennessee national guard has done in helping us reduce crime,” said Brady McCarron, a United States Marshals Service spokeperson who fields media requests for the taskforce.
asserted
who → appreciate → taskforce
“Overall crime in Memphis is down significantly, dropping nearly 36% year-to-date in 2026 compared to the previous year, according to Memphis police department’s own statistics.”
uncertain
crime → drop → statistics
A report by the Center for American Progress, a Washington DC-based thinktank, however, picked apart claims that large reductions in violence could be attributed to national guard patrols in New Orleans, Memphis and Washington DC, where the presence of troops on the tourist-heavy National Mall and the streets around the White House have become ubiquitous.
uncertain
presence → base → House
Trump reacted to the center’s report by threatening a personal defamation lawsuit against the authors for $5bn unless they retracted the report and issued an apology.
asserted
they → react → apology
Describing the deployments as a “political charade”, the CAP report used statistical regression to measure changes in violent crime against historical patterns and the double-digit drops in crime in other large cities.
asserted
report → describe → cities
“The findings of this analysis confirm what many already suspected: At the time of the administration’s federal law enforcement and National Guard deployments, the primary goal was never to stop crime,” the report said.
asserted
report → confirm → crime
“Despite multiple tests using multiple data sources, measures, and windows of time, there is no compelling evidence that these deployments reduced homicides, violent crime, or gun violence.”
asserted
deployments → use → homicides
In Memphis, a brief initial decrease in violence when national guard troops began patrolling was actually followed by a brief increase in violent crime.
asserted
troops → begin → crime
The rate eventually smoothed out as crime continued to fall overall, both in Memphis and across the country.
asserted
crime → smooth → country
Fewer national guard troops are patrolling the streets of downtown Memphis today.
asserted
troops → patrol → Memphis
The taskforce attributes that to a unit rotation.
asserted
taskforce → attribute → rotation
But the pullback also coincides with an autopsy report released by the family of Tyrin Johnson, who was shot dead by two national guard soldiers on Fourth of July weekend.
asserted
who → coincide → weekend
The taskforce said they were chasing an armed robbery suspect.
asserted
they → say → suspect
The autopsy said Johnson was shot in the back.
asserted
Johnson → say → back
“The timing is suspicious,” said community organizer Lucci Chambless, who has been in close contact with the Johnson family following the shooting.
asserted
who → say → shooting
The Tennessee national guard and the governor’s office have not yet responded to requests for comment.
asserted
guard → respond → comment
Public sentiment in Memphis began to shift after the shooting.
asserted
sentiment → begin → shooting
Tamboli’s, a pizza place in midtown Memphis, went viral for refusing to seat national guard troops in protest of the deployment.
asserted
Tamboli → go → deployment
A call by conservatives to boycott the restaurant instead packed it with supporters.
asserted
call → boycott → supporters
More than 50 other businesses have signed on to a “buy-cott” with Tamboli’s affirming their stance.
asserted
Tamboli → sign → stance
“I think we’re seeing more and more every day that people are coming to the side that they don’t agree with them being here, seeing how they’re harming our community so much,” said Taylor Herndon, owner of Board to Beers, a board-gaming bar near the University of Memphis.
asserted
Herndon → think → Memphis
Her bar is participating in the national guard lockout, which she says has had a positive impact on business, similar to Tamboli’s.
asserted
she → participate → Tamboli
“We have a lot of customers that we have started seeing because of the boycott,” she said.
asserted
she → have → boycott
“We already had a large following, but the boycott has definitely helped us reach even more of our community, and we’ve had a lot of people reach out and thank us for being on the right side of history, and that they feel comfortable coming because of it and that they feel support because of it, which has been amazing.”
asserted
which → have → it
She said she was disappointed that formal resistance by Memphis’s elected leaders has been comparably tepid.
asserted
resistance → say → leaders
“It’s been hard, because I keep fighting and I keep fighting, and it seems like things just keep getting worse.
asserted
things → keep → ?
Despite thinking: ‘Oh, it can’t get any worse,’ but it does,” she said.
asserted
she → think → ?
Democratic-led cities like Portland and Chicago strenuously resisted national guard deployments – rhetorically, in court and in the street.
asserted
cities → lead → street
But the Memphis city council rejected a resolution condemning the federal surge when it first arrived, and public reaction had largely been muted until recently.
asserted
reaction → reject → surge
The activities of the national guard have been as “transparent as mud”, and an immigration raid on the El Corralón nightclub earlier this month by the taskforce – resulting in 120 arrests, the most in one operation in state history – is exacerbating the change in public sentiment, Chambless said.
asserted
Chambless → result → sentiment
…and 5 more, not listed.
The Aporia
