(The Center Square) – President Donald Trump was in Memphis on Monday, touting the Memphis Safe Streets Task Force he says has reduced crime by 43% in the past six months.
The president held a roundtable with federal and state officials, including Attorney General Pam Bondi, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, White House advisor Stephen Miller and Gadyaces Serralta, director of the U.S. Marshals Service.
The task force included the deployment of the National Guard along with federal, state and local agencies. Trump signed a memorandum of understanding to deploy the National Guard on Sept. 15.
In the past six months, more than 7,400 arrests were made, 1,219 illegal firearms were seized, and 150 missing children were located, according to the White House.
Trump called it the “largest fastest declines in violent crime ever recorded” during the roundtable.
“Memphis, just so you know, with all of the things we said, you have now developed a reputation as a city that’s coming back stronger than any city in the country because of what’s happened with crime and it’s because your political leaders had the courage to do what they did,” Trump said.
Gov. Bill Lee said it was hard to imagine those results just six months ago.
“What has happened here has created generational change, and will create generational change, and it could not have happened except for what we’re celebrating here today,” Lee said.
Democrats said that the president was not welcome in Memphis.
“Trump and Stephen Miller, alongside his lapdogs Bill Lee and Cameron Sexton, are attempting to frame this PR stunt around public safety, but the reality is that Tennesseans are grappling with fear from the growing presence of masked federal agents in our communities, skyrocketing gas and grocery prices, and child care that costs as much as college tuition,” said Rachel Campbell, chairwoman of the Tennessee Democratic Party. “These are direct consequences of Trump’s agenda, backed by Tennessee Republicans, that have made life more expensive and less safe for Tennesseans.”
Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris, Memphis City Councilmember J.B. Smiley Jr., Shelby County Commissioners Henri E. Brooks and Erika Sugarmon, and state Reps. G.A. Hardaway, D-Memphis, and Gabby Salinas, D-Memphis, filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the National Guard’s presence.
A Davidson County chancellor issued a temporary injunction in November, but allowed the guard to remain in place while the state appealed the decision.
The Tennessee Court of Appeals heard oral arguments on March 5 but has not issued a ruling.
