President Trump announced an anti-crime task force for Memphis in the fall, partnering with Tennessee Governor Bill Lee and deploying more than a dozen federal agencies alongside hundreds of Tennessee National Guard members. However, the operation has resulted in a substantial increase in immigration arrests over the following ten months, with most arrests involving individuals without criminal convictions, according to data analysis by the Institute for Public Service Reporting.
White House officials and law enforcement leadership have characterized immigration enforcement as only one aspect of the task force’s mission, with emphasis placed on targeting violent offenders and career criminals. A U.S. Marshals Service spokesperson stated that the task force arrests anyone breaking the law, including those in the country illegally. The task force does not release detailed breakdowns of its arrests, and a city dashboard that initially tracked immigration arrests later removed those figures from public view.
Community organizations and advocates report that immigration arrests have increased sixfold compared to previous months, with the majority occurring during traffic stops concentrated in Memphis’s Hispanic neighborhoods. Local rapid-response networks and mutual aid groups mobilized to assist immigrant families, with hotlines receiving overwhelming call volumes and community members organizing to provide alerts about law enforcement activity. The impact extended to schools and workplaces, as fear of detention caused some families to limit their movement.
Memphis Mayor Paul Young, a Democrat, expressed that he was not supportive of the immigration enforcement aspects but stated he could not control federal and state operations. Governor Lee and other state officials have largely cooperated with the federal initiative. Trump visited Memphis in March and declared the task force a success, though crime in the city had been declining steadily since 2023. The task force has no announced end date, and National Guard presence remains visible throughout the city in various public locations.
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