Noting data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation that Memphis had the highest rate of violent crime per capita in the country in 2024, the president announced the Memphis Safe Task Force on September 15.
Operations began during the week of September 29, and visible National Guard patrols started October 10.
State Senator Brent Taylor (R-Shelby County) recently told Todd Starnes he is "very excited" to see the effects of law enforcement finally being allowed to do its job.
"It took President Trump sending 13 different federal agencies down here," he said. "It's like having a separate police force because they sent as many federal agents as we have police officers, along with the National Guard."
Memphis Mayor Paul Young (D) initially opposed the deployment but has since shifted his stance to work with it, focusing on maximizing its benefits for the city.
Some local leaders are skeptical that the current drops in crime are sustainable once the task force pulls back, and they want to pair enforcement with long-term investments like violence-interruption programs, education, and mental-health support.
The National Guard is the smallest component, but Sen. Taylor said it seems to be the thing that has gotten the attention of "the loon-wing of the Democrat Party," especially Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris (D), who is attempting to sue to stop the law and order.
"He's done absolutely nothing for the last seven years, until we get the Memphis Safe Task Force here," Taylor noted. "They have cut crime in half, and Lee Harris wants to sue to keep the National Guard from coming."
He said the Democrat is using the same playbook that the segregationist governors of the 1960s used when the National Guard desegregated the schools.
"As someone who was educated in an Ivy League school, he should know better," the senator submitted. "He is simply an embarrassment to himself and to Shelby County for trying to stop the best thing that's happened to Memphis in a generation."
The city of Memphis has a mayor, and Shelby County (where Memphis is located) also has a mayor.
President Donald Trump has also deployed the National Guard to address a "crime emergency" in Washington, D.C. Agents were also sent to Los Angeles, California.
In D.C., data for the 30-day window after Guard deployment showed an 18% drop in all reported crime compared to the preceding 30 days.
In Los Angeles, where a federal judge ruled the National Guard presence a violation of the Posse Comitatus Act, homicides, violent crime, aggravated assaults, and robberies dropped significantly in the first half of 2025 compared to the same period in 2024, but city officials credit their "ongoing commitment to public safety" for that.
