A visit by President Trump on Monday revealed how torn Memphis was over becoming a test case for his administration’s aggressive approach to urban crime.
Hundreds gathered outside a Memphis shopping plaza to protest Mr. Trump’s arrival in the city, where federal agents have been working for months with Tennessee Highway Patrol officers and local police to make thousands of arrests and seize drugs and guns.
Mr. Trump first signed an executive order in September creating a task force dedicated to crime in Memphis. He found a far more welcoming Republican state leadership in Tennessee compared to Democratic-led states where he sent in the National Guard and federal security forces.
“You have now developed a reputation as a city that’s coming back stronger than any city in the country because of what’s happened with crime and because your political leaders had the courage to do what they did,” said Mr. Trump, flanked by state Republicans and top administration officials.
There is little disagreement that the city has long struggled with crime, including in the years just after the Covid pandemic’s peak. Some residents have welcomed the influx of law enforcement resources and the coordinated focus on crime.
But others, including protesters on Monday, point to the strain the uptick in arrests has put on the local court system and the deep fears among people of color being targeted in the city. On Monday, some also bristled at Mr. Trump’s use of the city to advance his agenda.
“It’s a pattern of Memphians not being able to set their own narrative,” said Meggan Kiel, 45, who was born and raised in the city and now works for a nonprofit.
Mayor Paul Young, a Democrat whom Mr. Trump has praised for working with the task force, was notably absent on Monday. Mr. Young cited a personal conflict, and also noted that he had been invited to be in the audience, but not to speak.
After the president’s event, Mr. Young told reporters that he tried to make the best of the situation.
“My goal is to make sure that as the mayor of Memphis, that I’m at the table helping to drive how the federal agencies showed up in our community,” Mr. Young said, speaking to reporters after Mr. Trump’s event, adding that it led to “greater results.”
Critics note that crime statistics were already dropping in Memphis along with national trends before the task force formed in late September, and have only continued falling. The president’s supporters see it as a sign that the task force has been successful after years of record crime.
“Because of the Memphis Safe Task Force, the perception has completely changed, and Memphians will never go back to the days when criminals dictated how we lived,” said State Senator Brent Taylor, a Republican and longtime critic of Memphis leadership who has celebrated the task force.
Others have argued that Memphis, a majority Black city in a state dominated by Republicans, had little choice but to cooperate with an administration that had willing allies in state government. A lawsuit has challenged Gov. Bill Lee, a Republican who hailed the task force’s success on Monday, over whether he overstepped his authority by sending National Guard troops.
As the protesters marched into the street, halting morning traffic, more than a dozen Tennessee Highway Patrol and Memphis Police cars, carrying state, local and federal officers, arrived to corral the demonstration and traffic. Despite a few tense confrontations, no one was arrested.
“I can’t believe I’m living in times like this,” said Crystal Lockett, 44, who walked over after the sirens and chants caught her attention.
“It’s a bittersweet feeling,” she added. “The people are coming together. The bitter is why they’re coming together.”
Emily Cochrane is a national reporter for The Times covering the American South, based in Nashville.
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