Bill Hagerty: Memphis Is The Model For A Safer America

The American people have been led to believe that violent crime is a symptom of living in a major city. One must endure thievery, carjackings, and murder if you want to live in Chicago, New York, or Los Angeles. President Trump has proven in Memphis that we don’t have to accept the premise, and it may be the greatest accomplishment of his second term.

Last month marked one year since the president deployed federal agencies to Memphis with one goal in mind: making the city the safest in the United States of America. And that is exactly what is happening.

In one year, the Memphis Safe Task Force has made more than 13,500 arrests, seized more than 2,270 weapons from the hands of criminals, and located and returned 196 missing children to their families. Overall violent crime in the city is down 42% – the greatest decrease in the nation by a wide margin.

While these stats are rightfully impressive, the stories of how the task force’s success has impacted real people are even more incredible. Now, Memphians feel safe.

One Memphis mother said that it’s finally safe enough for her children to play in their yard. She noted that before the task force was deployed, a house four doors down from hers was shot up so badly that the residents abandoned the house and the neighborhood. Weeds have overtaken the house, a reminder of how bad things were before law enforcement arrived.

For the better part of the decade, Memphis ranked among the top cities for homicides and violent crime per capita. From 2020 to 2024, the city averaged 344 homicides annually, with a peak in 2023 of 428. In 2024, Memphis ranked number one in per capita violent crime among cities with a population greater than 100,000.

When President Trump won in 2024, I knew we had a unique opportunity to address the problem. Over the next few months, I engaged Memphis Mayor Paul Young, Kash Patel, and Pam Bondi — then nominees to serve in the administration — and state and local partners to put things in motion.

Last summer, the city quickly put a small task force in place, and by September the results were clear: more than 500 arrests. President Trump saw the success and launched the robust operation that is currently underway in Memphis. All told, 33 federal and state agencies are working together.

Memphis is the model for what is possible when federal, state, and local authorities band together to solve a problem — a stark contrast to Minnesota.

When President Trump warned he would send the National Guard to Minneapolis in January, city and state leaders spoke out against it. Governor Tim Walz said, “We do not need any further help from the federal government,” and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said having federal resources in the city would be an invasion. A year after their refusal, violent crime in Minneapolis is up 12%.

Memphis proves the opposite of what Americans have been told for years: violent crime is not the unavoidable price of city life. It is the result of choices. When federal, state, and local officials decided to treat it as a problem to solve rather than a condition to manage, the numbers moved and, more importantly, daily life changed. Tennessee moved ahead on public safety while Minnesota went in reverse.

The Memphis model is available to any city willing to use it. The only requirement is that political leaders at every level acknowledge that safety is not optional and that Americans should not have to flee their own neighborhoods to find it. President Trump demonstrated what can happen when cooperation is possible.

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Bill Hagerty is a U.S. senator from Tennessee.

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