UNHOUSED RESIDENTS IN MEMPHIS say President Donald Trump’s deployment of the National Guard has been more political theater than the solution that the president claims. Since June, Trump has deployed the National Guard and other federal agencies in cities from Los Angeles to Memphis and National Guard members patrol downtown Memphis in Janurary Washington, D.C., under the guise of addressing crime and illegal immigration. In places like Minneapolis and Los Angeles, the use of ICE and the National Guard has been met by protests. In Memphis, the Guard’s presence has been met with skepticism. The deployment of the National Guard also happened at a time when homelessness is growing in cities across the country. Trump signed an executive order in March directing federal agencies and local governments to treat homelessness as a crime and mental health problem, reversing course on more than a decade of policy that treated homelessness as a housing problem. In Washington, D.C., National Guard troops were tasked with helping clear some homeless encampments, according to local reports, prompting concern among advocates that the troops would be used similarly across the country. But so far, people experiencing homelessness say the troops don’t bother them. Some say the troops don’t seem to have much to do at all. continued next page FEBRUARY 2026
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