Mayor Paul Young wants to make it clear — again — for anyone who hasn’t been paying attention: Memphis is not partnering with Immigration and Customs Enforcement on immigration enforcement.
Young drew that line after Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, speaking amid national outrage over the deaths of two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis during federal immigration operations, held up Memphis as a model of federal-local “partnership.”
In a social media “check-in” video that began as an update on winter weather and power restoration, Young pivoted to the controversy.
“I want to clarify, yes, they have worked with the city of Memphis on addressing violent crime through the Memphis Safe Task Force,” Young said. “But I want to be very clear, there has been no collaboration with ICE on immigration.”
Young said the issue is not abstract for Memphis — a city with a growing Latino population and ongoing anxiety about federal immigration tactics.
“We know that our Hispanic brothers and sisters in this community have been working really hard,” Young said. “They make up about 9 percent of our population, the fastest growing population in our community. We want to make sure that as they move about in this community that they feel safe.”
“And so we have been very clear to have that line in the sand where our officers do not assist on immigration in any way,” he said.
Noem’s Memphis reference, and why it landed here
Noem’s comment came during a national moment in which the credibility of federal accounts of immigration enforcement encounters — particularly in Minneapolis — is under intensifying scrutiny.
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A Reuters investigation published Tuesday said video and other evidence in multiple cases has contradicted initial claims made by Trump administration immigration officials, including in the Minneapolis killings of Renée Good and Alex Pretti.
In a Jan. 25 CNN interview segment, Noem contrasted Minneapolis leadership with Memphis, praising what she characterized as cooperation from a Democratic mayor and crediting federal partnership for a sharp drop in violence.
“I’ll point to the city of Memphis, which is where there is a Democrat mayor in place,” Noem said. “He worked with us and our federal law enforcement officers, and we saw murder rates drop by 50 percent because of that partnership.”
Young’s response sought to separate violent-crime enforcement from immigration enforcement — a distinction that has become politically and emotionally charged as images and headlines from Minneapolis drive protests across the country.
What the Memphis Safe Task Force is — and why it’s complicated
Nobody west of Nashville asked for the Memphis Safe Task Force to come to Memphis. In fact, Young learned about it virtually when everyone else did — right before President Donald Trump announced it in September.
Even as other “blue cities” with Democratic leaders fought back against Trump’s crackdowns in Portland, Chicago and Washington D.C., Memphis leaders took a different approach. After all, whereas those cities had the support of their Democratic governors, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, a Republican, was there at the press conference announcing the deployment of the National Guard to Memphis.
(In related news, a group of Shelby County leaders is suing Lee over the deployment. A Davidson county judge ruled against Lee, but the case is in appeal. The City of Memphis is not part of the lawsuit.)
With no support from Nashville, Young and Memphis Police Chief CJ Davis have taken a “make the best of it” approach, aiming to steer manpower and resources to minimize negative impacts and maximize the “fighting violent crime” part.
As for the involved federal agencies, pretty much all the alphabets are involved: FBI, ATF, DEA and DHS are in Memphis. The Tennessee Highway Patrol recently announced it will remain an increased presence in Memphis after the task force ends.
About those crime statistics . . .
Noem claimed the murder rate in Memphis had declined 50 percent because of the partnership.
The best on-the-record comparison point is the Memphis Police Department’s own year-end reporting.
In a Jan. 3 department release summarizing 2025, MPD said murders were down 47 percent compared to 2023, and the city finished 2025 with fewer than 200 homicides for the first time since 2019.
And while a MSTF surge that began last autumn certainly locked away some criminals and scared others enough to stay home, MPD had reported a trend of declining violent crime dating back to 2023. Indeed, from providing grants for crime prevention, to major gang busts to rolling out high-tech artificial intelligence camera systems, Memphis already had momentum on crime before the task force showed up.
“These reductions did not happen by chance,” Davis said in a Jan. 3 statement. “They are the result of strategic policing, strong partnerships, and holding violent offenders accountable while supporting victims and survivors. As we move into 2026, our focus remains clear — sustain the gain and keep building a Stronger, Safer Memphis.”
What would really help
If Young’s message was “don’t put words in my mouth,” the subtext is also what Memphis leaders and organizers have argued since the federal surge began: If Washington truly wants to help, it should fund what prevents violence, and strengthen the less glamorous systems that make cases stick — from investigative capacity to forensic work, not just high-visibility deployments.
Memphians have also been clear about what they want changed upstream, starting with tougher gun laws to counter the permitless carry law that GOP legislators signed off on in 2021.
In November 2024, city voters overwhelmingly backed a package of gun-safety measures, including a declaration about the public-safety threat posed by assault weapons. GOP legislators pretty much dismissed the referendum out of hand.
But more than anything, leaders want diversion — programs and resources that intervene before anyone is shot, killed or arrested. It’s the kind of work that Portia Moore does through her nonprofit, TRAP (Transitional Reentry Adult Program).
“We build job readiness, financial literacy, self-esteem; we help people see that there are assets and resources,” Moore told the TSD last fall at a Cities United gathering of community leaders. “That’s how you stop crime — not just with boots on the ground, but with people they can relate to.
“We appreciate safety,” she continued. “But safety without trust, safety without dignity? That’s not real safety.”
