National Guard troops are seen walking across Bass Pro Drive near the Tennessee Welcome Center in Downtown Memphis on October 10, 2025.

National Guard troops began patrolling in Memphis, Tennesse, on Friday, Oct. 10, the city confirmed, as the Trump administration continues to battle lawsuits against similar deployments across the country.

Troops in Army fatigues could be seen crossing a parking lot at the Tennessee State Welcome Center shortly before 10 a.m. The back of their uniforms read "military police." Members of the National Guard wear the uniform of their federal military branch.

It was not immediately clear how many troops were in the city or what locations they would be patrolling and when. At least 11 military police troops could be seen meeting up in the welcome center parking lot, speaking with Memphis Police Department officers.

Unlike the governors of Ilinois, California and Oregon, who have all sued over the troop deployments, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee welcomed the federal intervention.

Lawsuits filed over Guard deployment in Chicago, Portland, LA and DC

The deployment comes days after judges blocked similar moves in Chicago and Portland, Oregon. Government lawyers in both cases said troops were needed to protect federal officers and property from demonstrators.

In Chicago on Oct. 9, U.S. District Judge April M. Perry cast doubt on the Department of Homeland Security's version of events and granted part of Illinois' request to block the deployment of troops to the nation's third-largest city.

Perry said deploying troops would only "only add fuel to the fire that defendants themselves have started." She cited a number of recent legal rulings against the Trump administration in federal court in Chicago.

Lawyers for the government filed a notice of their intention to appeal the ruling. Perry is expected to issue a full written opinion Oct. 10 outlining her rationale for the decision.

Meanwhile, a federal appeals court heard arguments concerning a lower court's order that blocked the deployment of National Guard troops in Portland. The conservative majority of the three-judge panel appeared skeptical of the state's arguments, which could pave the way for hundreds of soldiers to enter the city.

Those legal battles come after a trial court in Los Angeles ruled Trump's deployment of Guard troops there during the summer was illegal. The Trump administration appealed the decision to the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which overruled the lower court ruling in June, citing flare ups of violence and property damage during anti-ICE protests.

In September, the city government in the Washington, DC, also sued the Trump administration arguing the deployment of 2,200 National Guard troops is unconstitutional and violates federal law.

Contributing: Reuters

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: National Guard troops seen patrolling in Memphis, as judge blocks deployment in Chicago

Reporting by N'dea Yancey-Bragg, Jack Armstrong, Michael Loria and Christopher Cann, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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