DC-style crackdown on crime coming to Memphis, Tennessee, Trump says

September 15, 2025

President Donald Trump has established a federal task force to combat crime in Memphis, Tennessee, despite opposition from the city's mayor, Paul Young. The initiative, which Trump signed in the Oval Office alongside Tennessee Governor Bill Lee, mirrors similar efforts recently implemented in Washington DC. Trump plans to activate several federal agencies including the National Guard, FBI, ICE, ATF, and Department of Justice to address what he described as Memphis being "overrun" with carjackings, robberies, and shootings.

Who is affected

Memphis residents and communities
Local law enforcement in Memphis
Memphis Mayor Paul Young and his administration
Potential criminal offenders in the city
Federal agencies being deployed to Memphis

What action is being taken

President Trump is establishing a federal task force in Memphis
Federal agencies including the National Guard, FBI, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ATF, and Department of Justice are being activated
Mayor Young is attempting to influence how federal forces engage with the community
More than 2,000 arrests have been made and hundreds of illegal firearms seized in the DC operation that serves as the model

Why it matters

Memphis has one of the highest violent crime rates in the US (2,501 violent crimes per 100,000 people)
The city ranks first in homicide rates among US cities with 41 homicides per 100,000 people
This represents an expansion of federal intervention in local policing after the Washington DC operation
There's significant tension between federal and local authorities, with Mayor Young opposing the intervention while Governor Lee supports it
Legal questions exist about the deployment of National Guard troops in US cities, with a federal judge in California recently ruling a similar deployment in Los Angeles was illegal

What's next

No explicit next steps stated in the article

Read full article from source: BBC