By Steve Neavling
President Donald Trump on Monday announced the creation of a Memphis Safe Task Force, modeled after his recent law enforcement surge in Washington, D.C., and said Chicago would be next.
The initiative brings together the FBI, ICE, the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Marshals, along with the National Guard and local police, Reuters reports. Attorney General Pam Bondi will lead the operation.
“Memphis had the highest violent crime rate, the highest property crime rate and the third-highest murder rate of any city in the nation,” Trump said.
The move drew sharp criticism from Democratic leaders and civil rights advocates, who accuse the administration of staging political theater rather than pursuing effective crime prevention. Trump and Republican allies have increasingly framed violent crime as a national emergency and positioned their law-and-order message at the center of the 2026 campaign.
Trump issued a memorandum establishing the task force and said more deployments are coming.
“We think Chicago is going to be next, and we’ll get to St. Louis, and New Orleans we want to get into, too,” he said.
