President Donald J. Trump traveled to Memphis, Tennessee, Monday, to highlight significant reductions in violent crime achieved by his administration’s Memphis Safe Task Force.
The task force, which brought together the National Guard and federal agencies, has implemented a strategy of tough enforcement and zero tolerance for criminal activity. Since its inception, it has made more than 7,400 arrests—many involving suspects tied to homicides, gang violence, sexual offenses, and drug trafficking—and seized 1,219 illegal firearms while locating 150 missing children.
Memphis has recorded an overall crime decline of more than 43 percent compared with the same period last year. Motor vehicle thefts have fallen by 67 percent, sexual assaults by 38 percent, and aggravated assaults by 31 percent. The city saw fewer than 200 murders in the past year for the first time since 2019, with shootings dropping nearly 40 percent.
“The president stated: ‘These are not just minor improvements; these are lives saved, families protected, and communities reclaimed from the grip of violence,’” Trump said during his visit to Memphis.
Previously, Trump achieved substantial crime reductions in Washington, D.C., by deploying the National Guard. However, efforts to deploy similar tactics in crime-ridden cities in Democrat-led states have been largely thwarted by Democratic state officials. The Memphis mission has proved more successful because, while the city leadership is Democratic, the Republican state leadership supports the President.
