The growing presence of federal law enforcement in American cities has turned its focus to Missouri, with St. Louis becoming a target for federal intervention.
Both of Missouri’s U.S. senators are advocating for an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) training center at Fort Leonard Wood, which already provides criminal investigation training for military police.
On Monday, President Trump signed a memorandum establishing a Memphis safety task force as part of his crackdown on violent crime.
The initiative would involve the National Guard, FBI, ATF, DEA, ICE, Homeland Security Investigations, and the U.S. Marshals.
This move follows the White House’s announcement of deploying National Guard troops to Memphis, citing the city’s high crime rates.
Senator Josh Hawley, a Republican from Missouri, commented on the situation, saying, “The people of St. Louis and everywhere else in the state deserve to have the rule of law. They deserve to be safe, bottom line.”
Reverend Larry Rice of the New Life Evangelistic Center in St. Louis expressed a different perspective, stating, “They need to be up there cleaning up North St. Louis and don’t have to spend six or seven hundred million dollars to do it. Send them in to do something rather than just walk around carrying their guns and adding more debt to us taxpayers.”
Senator Eric Schmitt, a Republican from Missouri, supported the idea of an ICE training center at Fort Leonard Wood.
Schmitt stated, “That is completely in line with what the military can do. They’re not performing a law enforcement function, but rather sharing their knowledge with agents charged with enforcing our laws.”
Hawley emphasized the need for more ICE agents, stating, “We’re short on ICE agents. We need to recruit them, and then we need to train them. And I don’t see any reason to go build some new training facility somewhere when we have all the facilities, the expertise, the know-how at Ft. Leonard Wood …and the space.”
Governor Mike Kehoe told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that there are currently “no plans” to utilize the National Guard to fight crime in St. Louis or elsewhere in Missouri, however, his office acknowledged President Trump’s efforts to address urban crime.
St. Louis Mayor Cara Spencer indicated she has had no contact regarding a National Guard deployment and received the same feedback from Kehoe’s office as the newspaper did.