How the Memphis Safe Task Force Threatens Families and Civil Liberties

Since President Trump launched the dubiously named Memphis Safe Task Force in September, some Memphis neighborhoods have lived under constant surveillance and the unending glare of blue lights. President Trump and Mayor Paul Young claim the massive surge of federal agents, ICE officers, and National Guard troops are targeting "the worst of the worst." The evidence tells a different story. Enforcement actions have torn apart families, frightened children into sleeping on floors in fear of raids, caused businesses to lose customers, and trampled constitutional protections under the guise of public safety.

A judge recently issued a temporary injunction blocking the unconstitutional National Guard deployment, but Gov. Bill Lee's legal team is appealing that ruling. In the meantime, Black and immigrant families continue to bear the brunt of these aggressive tactics. The following roundup of news stories documents the profound human toll this deployment has taken on Memphis residents. The ACLU of Tennessee remains committed to documenting these civil liberties violations and holding the government accountable.

"I've Never Seen So Many Police Cars": Hiding Out With an Immigrant Family in ICE-Occupied Memphis: A Mother Jones journalist shadows a Memphis family hiding in darkness as police swarm their apartment complex, capturing the terror that has become daily life for immigrant families. One 12-year-old girl says simply: "I feel nervous—I have to protect them and myself." Read the full story

Christian Singers Caught in Deportation Net—One Falsely Branded 'Worst of the Worst': The Trump administration arrested two Guatemalan brothers known nationally as Pentecostal worship singers. According to news reports, officials published false criminal information about one of them in an official news release. Delmar Gomez's entire criminal history consists of six traffic tickets over 20 years, yet he's spent 40+ days in detention while ICE labeled him one of the "worst of the worst" criminals. His story illustrates the gap between administration rhetoric and reality. Read the full story

Memphis Schools See Attendance Dip Amid Task Force Operations: Data shows attendance dropping across Memphis schools, with Hispanic/Latino students seeing a 2% decline and English language learners also down 2%. At Kingsbury High School, which serves several Hispanic neighborhoods, attendance fell 5-6% year-over-year. Teachers report students asking daily, "Is today the day?" that ICE will take their parents. One preschool teacher witnessed a student's parent detained "just outside of my school." Read the full story

Volunteer Observing Traffic Stop Ends Up in Jail Under New Tennessee "Halo" Law: Jessica Chodor, a volunteer with Vecindarios901, was arrested, tackled, threatened with a Taser, and pepper-sprayed for observing a traffic stop. Some wonder if officers are weaponizing Tennessee's new "halo" law to make public accountability of officers more difficult. Read the full story

Task Force Taps Motel Guest Registries Without Warrants, Raising Privacy Concerns: Teams of federal agents and Memphis police are demanding motel guest registries without warrants. Witnesses say one Memphis Police Department officer recently entered data from passports and driver's licenses into his mobile device while an ICE agent stood watch. Legal experts say this muddies privacy protections, yet motel employees report feeling too intimidated to refuse. Read the full story

Nearly 60% of Tennessee ICE Arrests Involve People With No Convictions: New data reveals that 59% of ICE arrests in Tennessee since Trump took office involve individuals with no criminal convictions. In Shelby County specifically, 77% of arrests involve people with no convictions. The data also shows ICE has arrested more than 50 children in Tennessee, including 22 under the age of 10. Read the full story

Afghans Flee Taliban, Find Refuge—and ICE—in Memphis An Afghan family that followed the rules to request asylum and receive authorization to stay while courts processed their case, says they were recently arrested while walking their children to school. They now face deportation back to the Taliban regime they fled. The case illustrates how the administration is shrinking protections even for refugees who entered the U.S. legally. Read the full story

'Inhumane' Crowding, Filth, Physical Abuse at 201 Poplar, Jail East: With Task Force arrests causing a surge in jail bookings, recent inmates describe being pepper-sprayed while naked, sleeping in shifts because cells are overcrowded, drinking contaminated water, and living among bugs. More than a dozen inmates have died while in custody in 2025. Read the full story

Memphis Businesses Suffer Amid Federal Task Force Presence: La Guadalupana restaurant, one of Memphis's oldest Mexican taquerias, has seen business drop 30-40%, forcing the owner to cut employee hours from 40 to 25 per week. On Beale Street, some businesses report attendance down as much as 50%. Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris compares the Task Force's economic impact to the COVID-19 pandemic: "Latino communities are frozen. People can't go to church; people can't go to extracurricular activities for their children." Read the full story