A young Memphis boy publicly thanked President Donald Trump on Thursday for sending the National Guard to his city to combat rising crime.
The child, named Braylon, shared in a TikTok video posted by his mother that before the National Guard arrived, he was too afraid to play outside due to frequent gun violence in his neighborhood. Now, he says, things feel “peaceful” and much safer.
“My name is Braylon and I live here in Memphis,” the boy said in the video. “I’ve been noticing not just a slight change, but a big change in how peaceful Memphis is ever since the National Guard came. There were a lot of things I couldn’t do before because I had to worry about guns and stuff. I couldn’t play because I was scared someone might pull out a gun or something. But now I can do that. And I just wanted to thank the President of the United States for bringing the National Guard here.”
The National Guard was deployed to Memphis on October 10 to help curb soaring crime rates and assist in arresting violent offenders. As of Thursday, the Memphis Safe Task Force reported 978 total arrests and 197 illegal firearms seized since the troops arrived.
WATCH: Young man in Memphis thanks POTUS for making Memphis safe pic.twitter.com/mC3nLLUZn1
— Kaelan Dorr (@Kaelan47) October 16, 2025
According to FBI data cited by Stateline, Memphis recorded the highest violent crime rate among major U.S. cities in 2024, with 2,501 incidents per 100,000 residents. Despite these challenges, Democratic Mayor Paul Young told CNN he was “certainly not happy” about the federal deployment.
The Memphis operation follows earlier National Guard deployments under President Trump’s direction, including in Washington, D.C., where the crackdown led to over 4,000 arrests and more than 400 guns seized, according to Attorney General Pam Bondi. While some media outlets claimed crime in the capital had dropped by 34%, FBI statistics showed only a 10% decline when aggravated assaults were included.
Polling from Washington indicated that most residents supported President Trump’s anti-crime initiative, calling it “justified and necessary.”
The National Guard has also been sent to Chicago amid a surge in homicides. Democratic officials there, including Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, have opposed the deployment and urged President Trump to withdraw troops.