Tennessee’s two Republican senators have petitioned President Donald Trump to send federal resources to Memphis, Tennessee, to deal with crime there since he won the presidential election in November, The Daily Signal has learned.

On Monday, the president officially answered the call by signing a memorandum establishing a “Memphis Safe Task Force” with the goal of ending street and violent crime in the southwestern Tennessee city. Memphis will become the second city to receive a federal crime crackdown after the Trump administration authorized National Guard to Washington, D.C. last month.

But the deliberation over how to tackle crime in Memphis predates the president’s cleanup of the nation’s capital, going back to November, when Tennessee’s two senators started pitching Cabinet nominees on sending federal resources to the crime-ridden city.

Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., told The Daily Signal she gave now-FBI Director Kash Patel a sheet of 2024 statistics about crime in Memphis when he came to her office for his initial interview before his Senate confirmation hearing.

“I asked him if he would work with me to address this crime issue,” Blackburn said. “When he came before us at the Judiciary Committee, I asked again for his public commitment. He gave it, and he has been true to his word.”

Memphis had the highest rate of violent crime per capita in 2024, including some of the highest per capita rates of homicide, robbery, and aggravated assault, and property crimes such as burglary, larceny, and motor vehicle theft, FBI data showed.

Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., started the conversation with Patel and Attorney General-to-be Pam Bondi about sending federal resources to Memphis in November.

“We started the conversation at that point, before they were even in office,” Hagerty told The Daily Signal, “and I’ve had terrific cooperation from both the FBI and the [Department of Justice] in putting together a preliminary effort.”

Trump’s decision to deploy National Guard troops to Memphis is part of a strategic plan to address crime in the city, Blackburn told The Daily Signal.

“This is something that is part of a longer-term strategy in addressing crime in Memphis and our work to make Memphis safe again,” she said.

Phase one of the strategy was Operation Viper, a preliminary FBI mission in Memphis with a dedicated task force of federal, state, and local law enforcement, which has yielded more than 500 arrests and 100 indictments.

In phase two, the National Guard will support the Memphis Police Department in sustaining that effort.

“Parties that had been the different agencies involved in Operation Viper decided that for phase two, this would be the best approach that would best support the work of the Memphis Police Department to apprehend these gang leaders and to get them incarcerated,” Blackburn said.

“You’re going to see the National Guard there to give logistics support to the police department,” the senator and 2026 Tennessee gubernatorial candidate said. “You’ve also got the [U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives] and Homeland Security. You have the U.S. Marshals, the [Drug Enforcement Administration], all with an increased presence and working with and alongside the Memphis Police Department to make certain that not only are these gang leaders and members arrested, but that they are prosecuted.”

The Memphis mayor, the police department, and the governor of Tennessee will determine future phases, Blackburn said.

Trump will bring the “full menu of federal resources to bear” in Memphis, Hagerty said.

“The longer-term challenge, and that’s where I’m very focused, is making certain that Memphis has adequate resources going forward to sustain it,” he said. “And Gov. [Bill] Lee of Tennessee is also placed to do the same thing at the state level. From a federal level and a state level, our intention is to support Memphis law enforcement resources so that they can continue to remain one of the safest cities in America over the long term.”

The success of phase one, Operation Viper, makes Hagerty optimistic that phase two will have similar success in sustaining Memphis as the safest city in America, he said.

“There’s a great opportunity here to see what happens when you have federal, state, and local officials working together,” Hagerty said. “We’ve already demonstrated the potential of that with the results of our earlier Task Force effort that came to a close on Friday, and now we’re going to see the benefit of bringing the full menu of federal resources to bear.”

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