MEMPHIS, Tenn. – In another effort to expand his power and stoke fear, President Trump issued a memorandum yesterday establishing a regressive policing task force made up of various federal departments and agencies — including the FBI, ICE, and DEA — to go into Memphis. The memo also orders the Secretary of Defense to request state National Guard troops from the Tennessee governor. And it authorizes the Secretary of Defense to coordinate with additional governors to “augment” this federal task force with their own troops. This latest step makes clear that the Trump administration is claiming a sweeping mandate to patrol, arrest and detain people in Memphis, and will bring back the same failed policing tactics that caused widespread constitutional violations for decades.
“When military troops police civilians, we have an intolerable threat to individual liberty and the foundational values of this country,” said Hina Shamsi, director of American Civil Liberties Union’s National Security Project. “President Trump may want to normalize armed forces in our cities, but no matter what uniform they wear, federal agents and military troops are bound by the Constitution and have to respect our rights to peaceful assembly, freedom of speech, and due process. State and local leaders must stay strong and take all lawful measures to protect residents against this cruel intimidation tactic.”
Trump’s latest escalation comes at a time when the administration has cut millions in grants for proven strategies to reduce crime and improve safety. It escalates tensions in the community, undermines the reform efforts that Memphians are leading with local law enforcement, and encourages police practices already found to be unconstitutional.
In May, the Trump administration retracted findings from a Department of Justice report that revealed deeply disturbing patterns of local police misconduct and brutality, including police unleashing K9 units on people who were sleeping or otherwise complying with officers, training directives that instruct officers to “hurt them first and hurt them bad,” and routine use of pepper spray until people could barely breathe. Trump’s latest memorandum undermines the police and safety reform efforts that Memphians are leading.
Trump’s memo also directs federal law enforcement to work with state and local law enforcement agencies to “enforce federal immigration law.” When combined with over-policing, this mandate is likely to escalate immigration arrests and deportations of people from traffic stops and other routine interactions with police, heightening a climate of fear for thousands of residents.
“While we all want to see a safer Memphis, flooding the city we love with hundreds of federal, state, and local agents, and threatening to send the military into our communities, is dangerous and counterproductive,” said Memphis resident Claire Gardner, community engagement director for the ACLU of Tennessee. “President Trump is only going to make things worse. He is prioritizing abusive policing tactics that will further break trust between law enforcement and the community they are meant to serve, endanger lives, and lead to violations of our civil rights and liberties. True safety comes from empowering the community, not using state power to go after our immigrant neighbors, people of color, and those who dissent against the government’s brutal policies.”
This press release is available online here: https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/aclu-and-aclu-of-tennessee-condemn-president-trumps-plan-to-deploy-national-guard-into-memphis-communities