Hundreds of federal law enforcement officers deployed to Memphis amid new safety task force

By Karina Tsui, CNN

(CNN) — A Tuesday night town hall in Memphis drew dozens of residents with questions about how a federal law enforcement surge will play out in the upcoming days and weeks.

“All of this is about building upon the success that we’ve already built,” Memphis Mayor Paul Young told CNN affiliate WHBQ at the town hall. “We know that we’ve seen historic reductions in crime over the past 20 or so months and we want to continue to build upon that.”

Just hours before the meeting, US Attorney General Pam Bondi said on X that “our operation in Memphis is now underway,” with nine arrests made and two “illegal guns” seized Monday.

“Additionally, 219 officers were special deputized and our Joint Operations Center is up and running,” Bondi’s post said.

The Attorney General told Fox News Tuesday she will be traveling to the city with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth this week.

The deployment of federal authorities in Memphis is taking place alongside similar enforcement actions in cities like Chicago and Portland – where President Donald Trump claims crime has gone unchecked.

Trump said he wants the Memphis task force to model what he said was the success of stationing 2,000 National Guard troops in Washington, DC. Memphis’ operation, Trump said, calls for “large-scale saturation of besieged neighborhoods with law enforcement personnel” and “strict enforcement of applicable quality-of-life, nuisance, and public-safety laws.”

Memphis has experienced high numbers of violent crimes such as carjackings and homicides in recent years, but both Democratic and Republican officials have noted the city is seeing decreases this year in some crime categories.

Young said he met with federal agencies on Monday and they were still working on how agents can effectively support the Memphis police department.

“We do have every reason to believe that they are going to be collaborative and work with our police department throughout this process,” Young told WHBQ, noting there wouldn’t be an uptick in checkpoints, like in DC.

Tennessee Republican Gov. Bill Lee has said he would not expect more than 150 National Guard members to be sent to Memphis.

Lee also said there wouldn’t be tanks rolling through the city and troops wouldn’t make arrests or be armed unless local authorities request that.

A group gathered at Memphis City Hall Saturday to voice concerns about the operation, saying resources should be put into education, crime prevention, youth services and hospitals instead of federal troops.

At the town hall Tuesday, some residents told WHBQ they have worries about the task force, while others said they were looking forward to seeing a possible reduction in crime due to the presence of federal troops.

“I am glad they’re here,” Aqueelah Parker told WHBQ. “If it’s going to help the city I have no problems. I’m good.”

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