About a month into the Memphis Safe Task Force presence here last year, I submitted a FOIA request to the U.S. Marshals Service. “As of November 4, 2025, the Memphis Safe Data site reports 2,048 cumulative arrests during the Memphis Safe Operational period. Please provide a list of those arrested individuals, including names, ages, race, and charges.” Further specifics were requested on the reported numbers regarding “violent warrant arrests,” charges labeled as “unknown,” and “felony arrests” listed without charges.
That first month, more and more unmarked vehicles patrolled our streets, gathering in groups in shopping center parking lots or in neighborhoods with higher Hispanic populations. Traffic slowed, entire communities were forced into hiding. There were increasing “wrong house” situations where federal agents swarmed the homes of innocent citizens, holding them at gunpoint in their undergarments on their own front lawns.
By requesting the info from law enforcement, I’d hoped to find proof that the Force was serving its intended purpose — getting violent criminals off of Memphis streets. But what I found was concerning. It was becoming increasingly clear they were targeting certain demographics, but that could not be proven. Both Memphis Police Department and the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office would not provide any public records on the arrest activity of the Task Force. Directed to the U.S. Marshals Service Freedom of Information portal online, the only course of action was to fill out a form. As of press time on Tuesday, September 15, 2026, the FOIA request still sits “in process.” Today, the total number of arrests during the “Memphis Safe Operational Period” has hit 20,468 (memphistn.gov/safedata). The Force has carried out 188,530 traffic stops and issued 188,020 citations.
In May, while serving an arrest warrant, a member of the Task Force gunned down 41-year-old Darrin Pigram at his job, killing him in front of coworkers. The following week, a federal agent responding to a mother’s 911 call shot and killed 25-year-old Jonah Neal in his home. Neal was suffering a mental health crisis. In July, Task Force officers shot 47-year-old Alfonzo Ivy at least five times while serving an arrest warrant; his death was ruled a homicide.
The Center for American Progress in July reported that estimated costs for National Guard deployment in Memphis from September to December 2025 hit $33 million, and continuing at that rate would cost an estimated $286 million for all of 2026. On July 5th, 2026, National Guard members Downtown shot 20-year-old Tyrin Johnson in the back. (See this week’s Last Word, p. 23.)
On August 8th, Task Force agents raided Legends Lounge in Hickory Hill. According to the ACLU Tennessee, “Reportedly 300 people were inside, and officers held the entire crowd, forcing them to line up and show identification before they could leave. Our Constitution does not permit officers to detain an entire nightclub without actual evidence linking people to unlawful activity.”
On August 30th, the Task Force raided the El Corralón nightclub in Berclair and arrested 121 people, piling them into buses — witnesses crying out as their family, friends, and neighbors were being hauled away. The Department of Homeland Security’s press release on the event included mug shots and charges for only five of the 121 arrestees; it is unclear if (but unlikely) the rest had criminal records.
At the bottom of that release, it states: “The United States is offering illegal aliens $2,600 and a free flight to self-deport now … We encourage every person here illegally to take advantage of this offer. If not, you will be arrested and deported without a chance to return.”
Without a chance to return. Imagine the lives uprooted and destroyed, the children without their parents, households without their breadwinners. Imagine the grief of the families of those murdered by cops who should have simply been serving warrants or offering help. The cost is beyond financial. Lives have been lost. Freedoms stripped away.
More than 20,000 arrests; 188,000 traffic citations; hundreds or more kidnapped off the streets and deported. Where is the due process? Who polices the aggressive, unlawful Task Force?
It seems the answer to that is no one. The public and press have been stonewalled, fed unverifiable results. It’s beyond time to demand accountability and transparency.
We can’t do it alone.
