What to know about Trump’s latest federal deployments in Memphis, Portland and other US cities

By Hanna Park, CNN

(CNN) — The Trump administration is escalating efforts to deploy federal law enforcement officers in several Democratic-led cities, as part of what it calls a crackdown to address crime and restore order.

President Donald Trump has described these deployments as a potential “training ground” for the military, with Washington, DC, Los Angeles, Chicago and Portland among the targeted cities.

While the White House views protests in Portland, Oregon, as an opening to bolster Trump’s federal crime agenda, Democratic leaders nationwide are pushing back, arguing the moves are politically motivated and unnecessary.

Here’s a closer look at the latest developments:

Memphis

Federal and state officials have expanded law enforcement efforts in Tennessee’s second largest city through the Memphis Safe Task Force, which now includes at least 219 federally deputized officers. US Attorney General Pam Bondi and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth visited the city on Wednesday, highlighting 53 arrests and the seizure of 20 illegal firearms since Monday.

“You are unleashed,” White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller told officers Wednesday. He later put the effort in stark terms.

“We are going to bulldoze the criminal elements in this city, and therefore liberate the law-abiding citizens,” Miller said.

The federal presence was visible early Wednesday as law enforcement – some in FBI vests – gathered near a county jail. Around 100 vehicles, including RVs and command trucks marked with US Marshals Service and Tennessee Bureau of Investigation logos, were parked in nearby lots and fields.

The law enforcement ramp-up will not be affected by the ongoing federal government shutdown, Bondi said. “We don’t shut down because President Trump knows crime doesn’t stop, and you don’t stop,” said the attorney general.

Miller encouraged local police to take advantage of the extra federal manpower being embedded with them.

“We are sending in real cops with guns and badges to go out with you on the streets every single night to make arrests,” he said Wednesday.

A CNN crew observed uniformed military personnel flanked by Humvees at a makeshift command center – roughly two weeks after Trump announced plans to deploy the National Guard to the city. CNN has reached out to the National Guard for details on its deployment timeline.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, a Republican, who supports the federal effort, said no more than 150 National Guard members are expected to be deployed, noting that troops would not be armed or make arrests unless requested by local authorities.

The deployment comes as the city has grappled with violent crime, including persistently high rates of homicides and carjackings, in recent years. Even so, both Democratic and Republican officials have pointed to declines in some crime categories this year.

“We’ve seen historic reductions in crime over the past 20 or so months, and we want to continue to build upon that,” Mayor Paul Young, a Democrat, told CNN affiliate WHBQ.

Prosecutors are preparing for a greater caseload if arrests surge as promised.

“So far, we haven’t seen anything we can’t handle,” Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy told CNN affiliate WATN. “We’ll be ready for it when it does.”

Portland

“The National Guard is now in place” in Portland, Trump said Wednesday on social media.

However, the Portland mayor’s press office could not immediately confirm the Guard’s arrival, and Portland Police Chief Bob Day suggested Trump’s claim may be exaggerated in an interview with CNN on Wednesday evening.

“We believe they’ll probably be deployed in the coming days, but they’re not in place right now,” Day told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins. “They’re receiving some additional training.”

The police chief also questioned the necessity of deploying the National Guard, saying, “We’re talking about one city block” – a reference to the area around an ICE detention facility in Portland that has been the focus of largely peaceful protests for months.

Although the Trump administration has framed those protests as “violent riots” tied to “Antifa domestic terrorists,” a person familiar with White House strategy told CNN that the deployment in Portland is part of Trump’s broader crackdown on crime. The ICE protests simply gave them an easier justification.

“We don’t need an excuse to go into any city. The president has the legal authority to do it,” one White House official said of Portland. “But if he did need one, these dangerous riots are a prime example.”

“Federalized members of the Oregon National Guard are prepared to support U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other U.S. Government personnel who are performing federal functions, including the enforcement of federal law, and to protect federal property in Oregon,” Chief Pentagon Spokesperson Sean Parnell told CNN in a statement.

The guardsmen being deployed to Portland will first spend several days at a facility nearly 100 miles away from the site of the protests in order to prepare and receive training, Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley told CNN affiliate KGW Wednesday.

CNN has also reached out to the governor’s office and the Oregon Military Department for comment on the National Guard deployment.

State and city officials are challenging the deployment, arguing this week in a federal lawsuit that having troops on the ground is unnecessary.

“There is no insurrection,” Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek said Saturday. “There is no threat to national security, and there is no need for military troops in our major city.”

While protests in Portland have largely been calm since mid-summer, tensions reignited Tuesday night outside the ICE facility.

Video shows the moment an officer in camouflage and tactical gear approaches an individual, after which another officer tackles the person, restrains them with plastic handcuffs, and leads them away. It remains unclear who initiated the encounter.

Federal officers carried four people into the ICE facility on Tuesday night, according to CNN affiliate KATU. One was soon released, and it was “not immediately clear what charges, if any, they faced,” the station reported.

Six people were arrested at the facility Tuesday night, with charges including assaulting law enforcement, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement, noting one officer was hospitalized.

Other cities

In Chicago, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said Monday the Trump administration plans to deploy 100 military troops to the state to protect ICE facilities. “What I have been warning of is now being realized,” Pritzker said at a news conference, offering no further details.

CNN has reached out to the Pentagon for confirmation.

Trump had earlier suggested Chicago could be the next target of a National Guard deployment but has since backed off out of concern that doing so without Pritzker’s agreement could create legal headache, sources familiar with the matter told CNN last month. Instead, the administration has used civilian law enforcement agents in its crackdown on immigrants and demonstrators.

Last Friday, agents in Chicago reportedly fired tear gas and pepper balls toward a crowd of over 100 protesters outside an ICE facility in Broadview, west of Chicago, after some attempted to block a car near the site. Similar clashes have occurred in recent weeks, with demonstrators blocking agents’ vehicles from entering and exiting the facility.

Border Patrol agents made arrests in a high-profile sweep near downtown Chicago landmarks over the weekend, the Associated Press reported, as some of the agency’s speedboats patrol the Chicago River.

On Tuesday, the governor suggested Trump should be removed from office, CNN affiliate WBBM reported.

“There is something genuinely wrong with this man, and the 25th Amendment ought to be involved,” Pritzker said, referring to the part of the Constitution that provides a way to remove a president if he is “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.”

Since deploying the National Guard to Los Angeles and to Washington, DC, the Trump administration has continued to signal plans to expand such deployments, despite facing legal challenges.

In June, the administration sent thousands of California Guard troops to Los Angeles against Gov. Gavin Newsom’s wishes, citing protests against aggressive immigration raids.

Newsom took the decision to court, where a federal judge later ruled the deployment was illegal. The administration is appealing the decision.

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CNN’s Josh Campbell, Alayna Treene, Chris Boyette, Andy Rose, Devon M. Sayers, Karina Tsui, Danya Gainor and Monique Smith contributed to this report.