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EXCLUSIVE: A Memphis-area House Republican is eyeing a permanent federal law enforcement presence in the southwest Tennessee city after President Donald Trump’s order cracking down on crime.
Rep. David Kustoff, R-Tenn., whose district includes suburbs in the Memphis metropolitan area and rural areas outside of it, spent the day with Trump’s new Memphis Safe Task Force on Thursday.
He told Fox News Digital that the task force should serve as a blueprint for other U.S. cities dealing with high crime, while suggesting there should be some continuity plan in Memphis whenever its work is done.
“Because of the local law enforcement numbers being down, it makes sense to have a stronger federal law enforcement presence,” Kustoff said.
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He vowed to work with other Tennessee officials and the Trump administration “to make sure that, on a permanent basis, we have extra federal law enforcement once this task force sees its completion.”
Trump authorized the Memphis Safe Task Force on Sept. 15 as part of a growing nationwide crackdown on violent crime, which began with the president federalizing Washington, D.C., police on a temporary basis earlier this year.
Memphis had the highest rate of crime of any big city in 2024, according to FBI data, though the Memphis Police Department reported a significant drop in the first eight months of 2025.
The Memphis Police Department recorded 250 murders, 753 cases of rape and over 12,800 aggravated assaults in 2024 alone, according to state crime data.
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“I’ve lived here my entire life. I’m talking to you right now from Memphis, within the city limits. It’s a good community,” Kustoff said. “There are really good people, but there have been high rates of crime and high rates of violent crime, and we saw that really exacerbated during the [Biden administration].”
There was notably a nationwide spike in crime during the COVID-19 pandemic, during the first part of former President Joe Biden’s term.
And while Trump’s move to send federal forces into major cities to deal with remnants of that crime has been met with resistance by his critics, Kustoff said Memphis residents were relieved.
“I know by talking to people here that they do appreciate the presence of the law enforcement and the National Guard. We heard that before they were deployed here, and we really hear it now,” Kustoff said.
“These agents and the guard who are here … tell me that all different types of people are coming up, thanking them, hugging them. Of course, that’s the Memphis way, that’s the Southern way, that’s the Tennessee way. But they are appreciative.”
Since its creation, the task force recovered 45 missing children and made over 900 arrests, Kustoff told Fox News Digital.
He said its work should serve as a model for other cities.
“This is a blueprint, what is being done in Memphis, for other big cities across the country,” Kustoff argued. “And I would think that any mayor and any governor who has a problem with crime in their communities would welcome such an effort.”
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