TRANSCRIPT: President Trump Attends a Memphis Safe Task Force Roundtable, 3.23.26
[Video]
President Trump: Thank you. Do you like this song -- we like listening to that song go. Thank you. Wow. This is a nice place with the best sound system. I don't know. Who did -- it sounds like the finest opera hall anywhere in the world. Let's come back here more often. So often you have sound systems that aren't the greatest, and there's nothing worse, making a speech when nobody can hear you. This is beautiful and it's a great place. And Memphis has to like me, because I have a lot of friends here and they were not happy a year ago, two years ago, four years ago.
And now, they said, we can't believe what's happened in terms of crime, in terms of, uh, what -- what's gone on and the job these people and some of the great people, many of the great people in the audience have done. And that's why I'm here today. In fact, we were going to cancel because we have a couple of events going on, as you probably noticed.
So they said, oh, we'll cancel Memphis. We can -- I said, we're not canceling Memphis for anything. We're not canceling. We're not going to cancel Memphis, but we do have some big things happening and very positive, I have to say. So before getting to our important discussion this morning, let me provide a brief update on Operation Epic Fury, which is a very good name, as it turns out.
That was the name -- they showed me 20 names, sir, what name would you like? I didn't like any of them. And then I get toward the end, I said, you got to be kidding. What? Operation Epic Fury, I love that name. And it's very appropriate for what's taking place, if you know, in -- in Iran, because we knocked out their Navy.
We knocked out their air force. We knocked out their anti-aircraft. We knocked out everything, and we did it with fury. Actually, as I announced earlier, based on preliminary conversations between the United States and Iran over the past two days, I've directed the Department of War to temporarily postpone planned strikes against major energy and electricity targets in Iran.
They have a very, very big new, actually, and very expensive, billions of dollars it cost to build them, one missile, one of our powerful ones. And it comes down to the ground like it was made out of dust. But to determine whether a broader agreement can be reached, we've had very good discussions, very, very good discussions.
And you have to understand, I know -- my whole life has been a negotiation, but with Iran, we've been negotiating for a long time and this time they mean business. And it's only because of the great job that our military did is the reason they mean business. They want to settle and we're going to get it done.
I hope. So hopefully this will be possible, but no matter what, we'll ensure that Iran never obtains a nuclear weapon. They can't have a nuclear weapon. They would have had one if we allowed the Obama deal to stand. That was the Iran nuclear deal, they called it. They would have had one, Marsha, three -- I'll tell you what, Martha, we would have nuclear weapons up there, when?
Would you say two years ago, three years ago or four years ago? We would have been in a position that nobody wants to be in. We won't allow ourselves to be in that position. Over the past three weeks, the United States military and our partners have been decimating Iran's military capabilities with overwhelming firepower, skill, lethality, and force and we're destroying their ballistic missiles and drones' programs, with launchers down by more than 90 percent.
We're hitting their launches at a level that nobody even thought of before, 90 percent. They can't launch them, and they don't have very many of them because most of them have been annihilated. But we've annihilated their defense industrial base, eliminating their Navy. We had 158 ships are down. I said to my people, why didn't you capture the ship?
I said, were they good or not? They said, they were great, sir. So why didn't you capture it? We could have used them. They said, it's more fun to put them at the bottom of the sea. But they're not there anymore. So we eliminated their Navy, Pete, right?
Pete Hegseth: Yes, sir.
Trump: And that's gone. We eliminated their Air Force. We eliminated all of their air defense, everything. We eliminated everything there is to eliminate, and we eliminated them. We eliminated their leaders. We had -- we had the first set of leaders, they're gone. Then they met. 88 people met. And it's sad. I mean, it's sad they couldn't have made a deal.
We could have made a deal with them a long time ago. Then the second set, 88 people met to pick a new leader and they're now extinguished. And then they're meeting again, but now nobody wants to be the leader. It's one of the few political jobs that nobody wants anywhere in the world. Nobody wants it. It's a very dangerous job.
My job is dangerous too, but their job is worse. In other words, we're systematically dismantling the regime's ability to threaten America. They're not threatening us anymore. As commander in chief, it's my sacred responsibility to protect our country from all threats. For decades, Iran refused every opportunity to renounce its nuclear ambitions and in recent months, its own negotiators bragged to our representatives about having enough material to make nuclear weapons.
And that was supposed to deter me, but it didn't deter. It made me more anxious, and it just made it much more important. This mission that we're all on together was much more important, and we did it quicker. Iran's missile capabilities were also growing so fast that it would soon have become virtually impossible to stop them.
Once they have a missile, once they have -- what they were building was incredible, and you got a little glimpse of it by the fact that when they came out, they started shooting all of their neighbors. Their neighbors weren't fighting with them. They were getting along OK with their neighbors. And I was surprised, they were -- everybody was surprised.
And it actually worked in reverse, because their neighbors then turned against them. Now, Iran has one more opportunity to end its threats to America and our allies, and we hope they take it. Either way, America and the entire world will soon be much safer and will be a much more secure planet. In addition to all of this, we're working on so many different things.
You know, our economy was fantastic. We had a Dow at 50,000. They say it couldn't happen in four years, it wouldn't happen during my term, but if I got anywhere close, it would be a great success. Well, in my first year, we hit 50,000. And with the S&P, they said -- even more difficult. They said it would be impossible to hit 7,000 on the S&P, and we hit that in our first term.
And then, unfortunately, I came -- I called Pete, I called General Caine, I called a lot of our great people. We have great people. And I said, let's talk. We got a problem in the Middle East. We have a country known as Iran that for 47 years has been just a purveyor of terror, and they're very close to having a nuclear weapon.
We can keep going and get that 50,000 up to 55,000 and 60,000. There's no end. Or we can take a stop and make a little journey into the Middle East and eliminate a big problem. And, uh, Pete, I think you were the first one to speak up and you said, let's do it, because you can't let them have a nuclear weapon.
So we are now having really good discussions. They started, uh, last night, a little bit the night before that. And, uh, I think they're -- you know, I think they're very good. They want to -- they want peace. They've agreed they will not have a nuclear weapon, you know, etc., etc., but we'll see. You have to get it done, but I would say there's a very good chance.
And it began when I said that I won't be -- we were planning tomorrow on shooting down some of their power plants and we're not going to. We're going to hold that up. Hopefully we won't have to do it and hopefully we can make a deal that's good for all of us, including the Middle Eastern allies that have been very good to us, including Israel, that's been a great partner in this fight.
They've really been a good partner in the fight. They fought hard, but we'll see what happens. I think this is a very good chance we're going to end up in a deal. And so we're giving it five days and then we're going to see where that takes us. And I would say, at the end of this period, I think it could very well end up being a very good deal for everybody, as good as if we went all the way and just literally annihilated the place, which -- which if we don't have to do that, that would be a good thing, not a bad thing.
In addition, after the appalling lines and massive disruptions at major airports nationwide last weekend, I am again demanding that Democrats in Congress immediately end their disgraceful shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security and restore the full funding for airport security and the TSA. They are holding it up because they want to take care of illegal immigrants coming into our country.
They want to take care of criminals that are in sanctuary cities. They want to take care of transgender for everybody, literally the mutilization of our children, men and women's sports, but what they don't want to do is give us anything to do with US citizenship for voting or voter ID. Can you imagine?
We're the only country that doesn't do voter ID. Every country does voter ID. You know, brought to my attention today that we're the only country that doesn't -- does mail-in voting. Mail-in voting means mail in cheating. I call it mail-in cheating and we got to do something about it all. And it's part of Homeland Security. And I'm suggesting strongly to the Republican Party, don't make any deal on anything.
The most important thing we can have is what's called the SAVE America Act. Don't make any deal on anything unless you include voter ID and you have to be a citizen to vote. You have to show citizenship to vote, very easy to do. It's very insulting when they say people can't do it because they don't know how to do it. Anybody that can't do it, I think it's a very insulting thing to say.
The Democrats are fully to blame with the struggle of the great American public is going through at the airports. They're going through a big struggle right now. And we just put ICE in charge, and they're helping TSA, the agents, and they're working together so far very well. I actually suggested that in the airports, they take off their masks and they did that.
In the airports, I didn't -- I'm a big believer in the mask because we have -- you know, Biden allowed hundreds of thousands of killers into our country. We're rapidly getting them out, by the way, but they would, uh, they would go after these people if they knew exactly who they were. But in the airports, it's different.
I didn't like -- I didn't love the look in the airport, as you get off the plane. So I made a request and they agreed to it. So they're not going to be doing that. We would also bring out -- if we don't have enough, we will bring out the National Guard and -- you know, where we need it, uh, to help out at the airports, but we're not going to let this happen.
It's extortion by the Democrats. They're holding up money that's already been approved, and now they're willing to go $5 billion reduction in ICE, uh, in order to get the approval on a deal that they approved, the Great, Big, Beautiful Deal, which is the biggest tax cut in history, the biggest regulation cut in history.
They want to renegotiate a deal that they already approved, and they're doing it for -- largely for a criminal element. So also, the Democrats are putting our country at great risk during this period of time, a period that they call a war. They call it a war, we call it a military operation. Their leaders during this time are, as -- you know, as -- as you want to say, they're in a never-never land.
Schumer is gone. I mean, he's a Palestinian. He should be fighting on the side of Palestine. He's actually become a Palestinian leader. I don't know, I've never seen a man change so much. He used to be pro-Israel, now he's pro-Palestine. I've never seen anything like it. And you know, he's -- he's worried he's going to lose his next election, which it only depends if anybody runs against him.
If anybody runs against him, he'll lose. But he's gone very wacky and very -- they're very dangerous for our country. But we want all of those things. We have to have them. We want voter ID, we want proof of citizenship as part of our funding. We want to merge them so that we can get the Great, Big, Beautiful Bill in action and we can get -- we can get the America and SAVE America -- you know, they called it the SAVE Act, but nobody knew what the SAVE Act was so I said, you have to call it -- you have to -- under any circumstances, you have to call it the SAVE America Act, because everybody knows what that is. So they want funding taken away from the ICE patriots who are responsible for getting rid of the criminals, that Sleepy Joe Biden, the worst president in the history of our country, and his gang of thugs in the White House -- you talk about weaponization, they weaponized everybody.
You know, when we even look -- when Pam looks at somebody, oh, it's weaponization. They've indicted me, they -- what they've done to me and everybody else, it's a disgrace. They're the weaponizers and what they've done to people, can never let that happen again. We can never let them get away with it again.
They are the greatest weaponizers. Fortunately, it didn't work because here I am with you, so it didn't work out too well. Didn't work out too well. But they want to have people come into our country. And so many of these people are murderers, they're drug dealers, they're the worst criminals anywhere in the world.
They want them in our country. They don't want them to come out. They make it almost impossible, but we get them out anyway. They should have never been allowed to enter our sacred ground. These people should have never -- they came from all over the world. They came from all over. They came from the Congo in Africa.
They came from all over South America, Asia, everywhere, and they were from jails and mental institutions. They were drug dealers. They were murderers, 11,888 murderers. In any event, the Democrats are being blamed by the American people for the catastrophe going on right now at our airports and at other points of transportation and beyond.
And we want the public to know, we're not going to let them out of this trap that they created for themselves. And I'm suggesting very strongly that the Republicans, in going for the SAVE America Act, that you -- you weld it into exactly this, because voter ID is part of Homeland Security. Think of it, we're talking about two separate items, but they're really the same.
Voter ID is part of Homeland Security. And citizenship, proof of citizenship is part of Homeland Security. So I think it should be welded in. I think it should be together. You should vote together, because the public has not liked what they've done at the airports and they've done it, and the public understands it. They've gotten wise to them.
Republicans, do not settle with Democrats and let them out of this hole that they've buried themselves in. You have to take the votes in the Senate to approve -- you need votes to approve. We have to get Democrat votes and at a certain point, if you can get rid of the filibuster, it would be great. It would be great.
Get rid of the filibuster and get it all done. So we'll get it done. We want another thing. We can, or we don't have to, add those other items. And by the way, they say they're 80/20 items. They're not 80/20, they're 99/1. Men playing in women's sports is a 99/1. You look at transgender mutilization of our children, that's a 99/1, and we have that in the bill too.
So they won't sign it, then let the people reject them. And what we have to do is we have to win the midterms. This is the most important election, because all of the gains that we've made, we built the greatest economy, the greatest military. I built the military in my first term, and we built the greatest military in the world.
We're showing it now with Venezuela, with Iran. Everybody knows we have the greatest, most powerful military in the world, and we're in a position that we haven't seen. We're respected. You know, our country now is respected all over the world. A year and a half ago, we were a laughing stock. We were a laughing stock.
The king of Saudi Arabia told me a year and a half ago, he said, President, I can't believe what's happened to America. One year ago, you were a laughing stock. Nobody thought you could ever, ever survive. Now you're the hottest country -- he used that expression. He said, now you're the hottest country anywhere in the world.
And we are now. Congratulations, because we're all partners in this deal. You're the hottest country anywhere in the world. It's really amazing. So I congratulate you. It's a great feeling, because we were laughed at for four years with this guy that should have never been president. So I'm tying Homeland Security into voter identification with picture and proof of citizenship in order to vote.
And those two items are the most important thing having to do with Homeland Security, so it's part -- it should be part of the Homeland Security bill. And I'm requesting that the Republican Senators do that immediately. You don't have to take a vote. Don't worry about Easter, going home. In fact, make this one for Jesus.
OK? Make this one for Jesus. That's what I tell them. That would be a damn good thing. The most important part of Homeland Security is voter ID and proof of citizenship. Nobody can vote on Homeland Security without voter ID or proof of citizenship and you can't have Homeland Security without voter ID or proof of citizenship.
So we're tying them together. So now, if you don't mind, let's get to the reason why I'm in Memphis and why you're doing so well, because Fred Smith -- everybody know Fred Smith? He was a friend of mine and he created, from a sort of failed report at like Harvard or whatever -- he did a business report, a concept he had, that was his thesis, a concept he had to build a company, and it was FedEx. So he gave this thing where he takes packages, he delivers them.
Who the heck knows what he put down? Bottom line is they gave him a lousy mark. I don't know if they passed him or not, but they didn't give them a good mark. They said, this is the most ridiculous business plan we've ever seen. Fred, go back to the drawing board and try something else because this won't work.
Well, he decided to go for it, and he built FedEx and it's an amazing story. And he was a very good friend of mine. But he would tell me that he didn't know what to do about Memphis. It was so dangerous that they would have a board meeting and the board members, they were demanded that they could not walk one block to their hotel.
You know, the hotel I'm talking about. It was so dangerous. And now they tell me this is like an entirely different place. It's like Washington, DC. In Washington, DC, we had the same thing, and now it's amazing. It's such an honor, too. If only more governors -- your governor called and he said, we love it. Your mayor has been terrific.
Your mayor has been terrific. But look at the results that you've got. Look at the results. And everybody should do it. You know, if I was Chicago, Pritzker, you know, guy's a -- he's a failed governor. All he has to do is say, President, we're having a problem in Chicago, could you come in and fix it? We'd have it fixed in two months.
It would be good -- it would be good in two months, it would be great in four months. You'd have almost no crime. But he can't do it and it just keeps going the same way. So that's the reason I'm here, to tell you how well you've done, how well we've done. I mean, I just came in and people greeted me, sir, thank you very much for what you've done.
I said, oh, where are you from? Memphis. What did I do? You stopped crime. And your sheriffs are so thankful. And -- oh, you haven't seen it yet. You know, we've just been here a short while. In another two or three months, you're going to have, like, no crime. And, you know, we take these criminals -- -- is that our handsome senator down there, Bill?
Is that our handsome senator, Bill? You got both of them now, but you're going to have a new governor here soon, I guess, huh? Going to have a very new governor. Would you two stand up, as senators, please stand up. Two of the greatest people. Two of the greatest people. They never let me down.
You know? Some let me down. They never let me down. Thank you. Last September, my administration launched the initiative modeled on DC Safe Task Force in our nation's capital, one of the most amazing things. I mean, I hate to say it. Now I can say it, but our nation's capital was one of the most dangerous places on earth.
People were being killed that go in from Iowa; they go from Indiana to see the Washington Monument, and their parents would get a phone call, they'd been killed. And it was happening a lot. It was really bad. And like this -- actually, yours was at a level higher, to be honest with you. It was really bad, but it was happening a lot.
And now you walk down Washington, it's like -- Everybody that sees me in Washington -- we've been doing that another couple of months longer. Everybody sees me in Washington, they say, thank you, sir, thank you. And I immediately know what. You know, they could thank me for a lot of things. I said, are they thanking me for the economy?
I know immediately. We have people working in the White House, young women, they walk -- I would say normally, beautiful, young women. Ever since I got elected, I don't like to say that. Because usually when you say a beautiful woman, isn't she beautiful, that's the end of your political career. So I never say that.
But young women coming up to me and they're saying, sir, thank you so much. I know immediately what they're talking about. I say, how big a difference is it? They say, we walk to work. We were afraid to walk into an Uber. We were afraid to walk into a car. The car would be -- it didn't matter. The car was being robbed when we were in the car.
And it was much more than being robbed. Being robbed was the least of it. And we took out over 3,000 people. And, you know, there's an expression that 90 percent of the crime is caused by two percent of the population. And when you hear that, you realize why we can do such a good job. We moved 3,000 people out, permanently out of -- these were career criminals.
Many of them came in through the Biden open border disaster. They came in. They weren't there, they came in, they said, we want to live in Washington, where they'll take good care of us, give us plenty of welfare. And we got them all out. We moved them back to their countries. Sometimes we put them in prison because they were so dangerous.
We had one -- one person, killed four people in a short period of time. Many of the people, 11,888, 50 percent of them in our country, they came from jails. Other countries opened their jails and let them into our country because Biden and his great border czar, the border czar who never once went to the border, never once called Border Patrol, but his great border -- perhaps you've heard of her, Kamala.
Has anyone heard of Kamala? She was a border czar. That was like having nothing as a border czar. And they poured into our country, and they made our country very, very unsafe. And the job that ICE and Border Patrol have done, they don't get the appreciation they deserve. They are great American patriots.
They're incredible people. So we brought together 22 federal agencies, state and local police, and 1,500 members of the incredible National Guard to smash the grip of the violent criminals on this iconic American city. The city is incredible. People love it so much, but they're so -- they're just fed up. They can't -- they can't stay.
And now they're staying. I had somebody backstage say, sir, I was ready to leave and now we're staying. I said, don't worry, it's going to get much better. It just takes a little more time. Like our DC efforts, the Memphis Task Force has been led by our director of US Marshal Services, Gady Serralta, who is incredible.
Where's Gady? Gady, you are unbelievable and I want to thank you for the work. He did a job in Washington. So when I heard Memphis, I said, I want the same guy that did Washington, because that went -- you're going to tell us when you get up, which was more difficult, all right? But Memphis, known all over the world as the home of Graceland.
You know, I'm going to see Graceland after this, I think, is that right? I love Elvis. I never met Elvis. Everyone said, did you -- I met them all. I met Sinatra. I knew all of them. I never met Elvis. Sometimes I feel I should tell the little fib, said, I knew him well. I love Elvis, but I never met him.
But I'm going to go see Graceland after this, I think. I'm sure it's not going to be a very long stay, but I want to see that. But for years prior to our involvement, Memphis had become known for something else, being the murder capital of the USA, not a good title. It was averaging far more than one murder per day, with a crime rate higher than Columbia, Mexico City or Baghdad.
In the year -- I shouldn't be saying this -- because -- but here's the good news, it's been fixed. All right? I hate to say this because it's so negative. It's so negative. In the year before I took office, Memphis saw more than 12,500 violent assaults, 429 rapes and 7,600 burglaries and armed robberies.
And I mean, it was -- and getting worse. This catastrophe was a result of years of local politicians, judges and prosecutors who sided with violent criminals over law-abiding citizens, basically, liberals, or now they like to go with the word progressives. You don't hear liberal. They're liberal. I don't like progressive because it's a beautiful word.
You know, they use progressive because that's the only thing they're good at, politics, I guess. You know, they're bad at policy, because all these policies are bad, but the greater politics and they do stick together. They stick together, they're good at politics, but they're bad at policy because they can't sell open borders.
They can't sell transgender for everyone. They can't sell men and women's sport. So they can be the greatest politicians in the world and that's why I'm here instead of them, I guess. But just as we have in DC, here in Memphis, we've achieved one of the largest, fastest declines in violent crime ever recorded.
So that's something, right? Ever recorded. In fact, you're half a percentage point away from the record, so we'll catch them in the next month or two. All right? I think that's going to happen. But that includes a 60 percent drop in robberies, a 74 percent drop in carjacking and motor vehicle thefts.
We have always achieved numbers that are good. These numbers are right in line to be among the best that we've done. And wherever we do this, we have very similar results. We were in New Orleans, where the governor called us, as you know. And we went to New Orleans. They just had Mardi Gras. They said, it's the first -- it sounds terrible, but it's the first Mardi Gras we've ever had where there was no murder.
Can you imagine? Doesn't sound too good, but, you know, we're talking about the facts. And they said, we had the lowest crime that we've ever had on Mardi Gras, which is almost -- almost nothing. We went there about four months ago. We did a great job. So we've achieved a 70 percent reduction in murders from the peak in this place.
In total, we've arrested 7,000 criminals, seized more than 1,100 illegal guns, taken more than 1,000 pounds of illicit narcotics and rescued more than 150 missing children, making their parents beyond happy. So I'd like you to please join me in thanking, I tell you, every single law enforcement hero here today. We have a number of them, a small number compared to what's doing the job, who helped make Memphis safe again.
Memphis, just so you know, with all of the things we said, 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. So I'd like you to also say a special welcome and hello to the Tennessee National Guard, the Memphis Police Department, ICE, CBP, the ATF, DEA, Homeland Security Investigations, the US Marshals, the Tennessee Highway Patrol, and all of law enforcement.
Everybody got together and they said, we're going to make Memphis great again, and they really did. It's so good. But, you know, I talk about how good it is. We're at 75 percent. Some people say 80, 81 percent. That still leaves 20 percent. You're going to be down -- in another two months, three months, I think, Gady, we're going to be down -- we're going to be down to almost no -- you're going to be an almost crime-free city.
You're going to be so proud of it. People are going to stay. They're going to actually come back, because you have everything going. But you had that one horrible cloud over your head and you essentially, people know what's happening, but essentially in another two months, you're not going to have anything -- you're going to have a crime-free -- a virtually crime free city.
So today, I'm pleased to announce that the secretary of war -- used to be the secretary of defense. We made a minor change. We like the sound of it better. That the secretary of war just signed a directive to ensure that all National Guard members serving on this task force, as well as in DC, New Orleans, and our border security missions, will receive the same benefits as active duty troops because you deserve it. That's not bad.
That's not bad. So before we leave, I want to thank Attorney General Pam Bondi, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth. These are great people. Chief of the National Guard Bureau, General Steven Nordhaus; FBI director, Kash Patel, wonderful guy, actually. You got to get to know him. Once you get to know him, he's a wonderful guy.
I've known him -- I've known him too long, right? He's a good guy. DEA Administrator Terry Cole, what a job he's done. Acting director of ICE -- where is Terry? Good job, Terry. What a job, in Washington, too. Acting director of ICE, Todd Lyons. Todd, great. Thank you, Todd, good job. Head of the ATF, Rob Cekada.
Rob? Thank you, Rob. Head of the Tennessee Highway Patrol, Colonel Matt Perry. Thanks, Matt. And head of the Tennessee National Guard, Major General Warner Ross. How are you? You look -- you guys look central casting. These are central casting people. What did you need us for? You didn't need us. Anyway, they had to let you do your job, right?
They're letting you do your job now. Thanks as well to Tennessee Governor Bill Lee for the outstanding job. Thank you very much, Bill. We appreciated your call. Bill called me up. He said, we need a little help in Memphis, sir. Would you get over here please? He said, I have no pride, we just want this thing straightened out.
Right? So thank you very much. I'm glad it worked out. Oh, you haven't seen -- wait till you see. In 90 days from now, you're going to see numbers that blow these off. You're down 70, 75 percent. You're going to see numbers that are you're going to be very proud of. Senators Bill Hagerty and Marsha Blackburn, great people.
Great people. You have some real warriors, too, as your Congressmen and women, David Kustoff, Andy Ogles, Diana Harshbarger, John Rose, Matt Van Epps, and Chuck Fleischmann. Would you all stand up? Warriors, all, every one. Great -- great people. You don't get better. And they -- it's not the easiest -- not the easiest job, is it? Huh? Speaker of the House -- you know what I like about them?
They're not 3:00 in the morning, sir -- I get a call from Mike Johnson, Speaker of the House, sir, we have a problem. What time is it, Mike? 3:00, sir, morning. We vote at 9:00. We need -- always the same, you know, it's like eight or nine. Sir, could you call them for us and see if you can get their vote?
Oh, 3:00. Call them up. Hey, Jim, how you doing? Hello, sir, I'm not there, I'm not there. Well, you got to get there. At 9:00, you got to vote. Sir, could I have a little breakfast so we could discuss this bill? You know, like a perfect bill, like, you know, voter ID or something. The bill -- didn't have to be too great to do it. He said, could we have maybe a little breakfast at the White House, sir?
So -- because I could get there, but I'm just not there. Come on over for breakfast, Bill. You know, I got a lot of them, too. I have about nine of them. But these are the people we love. These are the people we love. So I want to thank you all. Speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives -- and I hear this guy -- I hear he's fantastic.
Cameron Sexton. Where is he? I have heard such good things about you and you're working on a very specific bill right now. I know all about you. That's great. Let me know when it's finished. You know, you got to send me a copy, OK? That's great. Thank you, Cameron, you're doing a great job. Shelby County Sheriff, Floyd Bonner.
Thank you, Floyd. National president of the Fraternal Order of Police -- oh, that's a big one. He gave me his endorsement. Patrick Yoes. Where is Patrick? He gave me his endorsement. I said, well, what's your endorsement worth? How many members? He said, sir, we have 490,000 members. I said, that's a good endorsement.
Patrick, do you think anybody outside of -- within law enforcement, did anybody vote for Kamala, that you know of? Don't -- don't say it. You're going to get yourself in trouble. Don't say. But thank you, Pat. That's great. We had a -- we had an unbelievable -- I do believe we got 98, 99 percent with law enforcement.
And why not? President of the National Sheriffs Association, Chris West. Chris, thank you very much. Thank you, Chris. Stand up, Chris. Thank you. Why are you so far back there, Chris? You deserve to be in the front row. National president of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, Mat Silverman, great guy too.
All great guys, all guys we know. All guys -- thank you, Mat. They're all guys that supported me, Pam, every one of them. For years, our leaders allowed entire cities in America to be destroyed by crime, drugs and gang violence. Tolerating this violence was always a choice. 19 of the 20 most dangerous cities in America are run by Democrats.
I'm surprised. I thought it was 20 of 20. I don't know why it's 19 -- I don't believe it. It's like -- I heard it was 25 out of 25. Well, I'll find out about it because I don't believe it's right. Whoever wrote that statistic is wrong. But under the Trump administration, we believe that no city or neighborhood should be left behind.
In Memphis, the crime became so horrible that residents were made prisoners of violence in their own community, in their own home. But with the help of the great people right here at this table and right here, it's a whole different story right now. It's changing fast, and it'll be record-setting in a very short period of time.
And I'll be here to celebrate it with you. You know, it's a very special state to me. I won this state, Bill, by numbers that nobody's ever won it before. We have the all-time record for votes, so I happen to like the state. I love Tennessee. Maybe someday I'll move to Tennessee. I might have to move here.
No, I love it. You never know what that is. You know, you just have a relationship with the state. It's a lot safer than relationships with other things, I can tell you as a politician. But I especially want to thank Speaker Sexton, who's working with the task force, to pass model bills that will be tough on crime, to deliver permanent safety to the people of Memphis.
And really, I don't know if you know, but they're looking at this all over the country, what you're doing. They're studying it, that's why I know your name so well. And all over the country, they're studying it. And so I hope you do a great job, as simple as you can and as complex in the sense of we want to be tough.
We want to be strong on crime, because that's the thing. We want to have heart, we want to have fairness but we have to be tough, because some of these people are bad people that should have never been allowed to be here.
Since I took office, we have successfully arrested or removed from the country over 500,000 hardline criminals. And under our leadership last year, the murder rate nationwide saw the single largest decline ever recorded to the lowest level in 125 years. That's something. That's something. And this is despite the fact that they allowed 25 million people into our country.
Many of those people should never have been allowed into our country. So now I'd like to ask Director Gady Serralta to -- who's really a special guy. And I've lived with him because of Washington, DC. I saw what he did. But to say a few words. And congratulations for what you've done everywhere but today, we're only interested in one place, Memphis, Tennessee. Thank you very much. Gady? Thank you.
Gady Serralta: Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you very much. So good morning to you and thank you, Mr. President. Uh, today we celebrate the successes of this incredible mission and all our federal, state, local and National Guard teammates who have contributed mightily to the Memphis Safe Task Force. Mr. President, it is an honor to be entrusted by you to lead this amazing task force as director of the United States Marshal Service.
Your decisiveness in responding to state and local leaders' requests for federal assistance is inspiring. It was just over six months ago when you signed the Executive Order Restoring law and order in Memphis. At that point, the city of Memphis was overwhelmed with unprecedented levels of violent crime, to include some of the nation's highest per capita rates of murder, robbery and aggravated assaults.
Memphis residents could not safely enjoy a walk downtown. Parents were fearful of their children playing outside, and local businesses struggled to prosper. The mission you gave us was clear and concise, crime will not prevail in Memphis, period. The city will not be surrendered to lawlessness. President Trump, thank you for your leadership.
We had a blueprint, quickly restoring order and reducing violent crime, given our success with Operation Make DC safe and beautiful, as you mentioned. We began our deployment to Memphis and commenced operations on September 29th, 2025, with 20 partner agencies and 200 task force members. Now we partner with 33 multi-agency teams throughout the Memphis area.
We have the support of over 2,700 officers and National Guard members who comprise the Memphis Safe Task Force, most of which are out here in the audience. In just over six months, the Memphis Safe Task Force has made over 7,342 arrests, this is last week's numbers, with charges ranging from homicide -- there was 44 of those.
94 drug offenses -- I'm sorry, 812 drug offenses and 757 gang-related offenses. We have seized over 1,200 illegal firearms and located and returned 150 missing children. Each of these arrests and seizures of illegal contraband have a ripple effect, bringing justice to victims, relief to communities, and the prevention of future offenses or deadly accidents.
Our work, however, has not just been about arrests and the seizure of illegal firearms and narcotics. Our Tennessee National Guard partners have made a significant impact while serving on the task force by administering several life-saving doses of Narcan to overdose victims, chasing down and detaining a fleeing murder suspect on Christmas Day and providing immediate, life-saving medical aid to the occupants of a vehicle collision on I-40. That's just a few of the things they've done.
Similarly, our Health and Human Services tactical med, we call them tac med, they're our doctors, their team has treated almost 500 task force officers and related injuries during our operations. The fraud cell -- the Memphis Safety Task Force fraud cell has been a key contributor in targeting federal benefits fraud, organized crime, and other complex fraud matters.
The fraud cell has more than 80 open investigations, 33 cases active with the United States Attorney's Office. Their recent efforts have resulted in two indictments of convicted sex offenders living in housing paid for by Housing and Urban Development, and one indictment for stealing benefits from a Social Security beneficiary.
I would also like to recognize the work of Attorney General Bondi's incredible staff at the Western District of Tennessee. Their stats tell a remarkable story as well. They have increased the number of defendants charged by 221 percent and the number of cases indicted by 204 percent when compared to the same period last year.
I see you smiling, Mike. Congratulations. Without question -- Without question, the public safety outlook in Memphis has improved dramatically. In the past six months collectively, our efforts have resulted in a 43 percent reduction in total serious crimes, 37 percent reduction in murder, 40 percent reduction in sexual assault, 56 percent reduction in robbery, 68 percent reduction in motor vehicle thefts, and the most impressive of all is a 65 percent increase in the solvability of the crimes that have been committed.
These numbers are so impressive that it's often easy to just recite them without reflecting on significant positive impact that we have had on lives of Memphis residents. The city's residents and visitors are now more likely to venture downtown and our local businesses are rallying back. Largescale public events have shown improved safety outcomes, as demonstrated during the December 6th, 2025 Saint Jude Marathon, where 22,000 runners gathered without a single reported downtown burglary, compared to multiple incidents in the prior year.
Perhaps the most telling of all is one of our special assistant United States attorneys recently reported that a traveling emergency doctor -- emergency room doctor expressed his appreciation for all that the task force had done. You see, he said that in years past he would see three to five gunshot victims per shift, and now he sees an average of one gunshot victim every three or four shifts.
Mr. President, the Memphis Safe Task Force underscores one simple truth, when federal, state and local agencies work together as genuine partners, we can reclaim even the most troubled cities. I am extremely grateful to you for the opportunity. To all our partner agencies, it has been an honor to work alongside you, and I look forward to sustaining and building on these partnerships as we continue to make Memphis safe again. Thank you.
Trump: Thank you, Gady, very much. And, Pam, I think -- thank you. What a great job. And I think -- you know, I see them sitting out there, your US attorney and your assistant US attorney. You do a great job. Would you please stand up?
Pam Bondi: Michael Dunavant.
Trump: Michael Dunavant. You know. Thank you, Michael. Thank you both. Great job. Thank you. Pam Bondi, please.
Bondi: Thank you, President Trump. You know, some people choose to tolerate crime, but you chose law and order and that's why this task force worked. It was all of us, as Gady said, working hand-in-hand, with my FBI, DEA, US Marshals, ATF, with Kash, with Terry, with Rob, with Gady, not only that, with Pete, with Department of War, with Homeland Security, with all of my agencies working hand-in-hand with the National Guard.
When you went out there, when we came to Memphis, you could not tell who was with what agency because everyone was working so well together. Our US attorney, Mike Dunavant, was out there. And not only this, everyone needs to know, we met with this president multiple times about this endeavor. The president knew what was going on here. The president cared. People like Alice Johnson sitting in the front row, who is a Memphis resident, she told us what a horrible crime problem there was.
And I think the unsung hero in all of this is Stephen Miller. Stephen is the architect of making all of these plans work. Stephen, thank you. Thank you. And just two very brief examples. There was a horrible murderer, Arsenio Davis, who last October committed a gruesome double homicide. He killed his mother and dismembered another person.
And based on this task force working hand-in-hand, he's off the street. Another example, a horrible monster who's charged with raping a small child. This task force, all of these members working together arrested him. We can give you countless examples of that. 770 -- over 770 gang members off the streets.
And we know there's no normal day for a law enforcement officer. We know it's so dangerous what our law enforcement officers do. But know this, Donald Trump and this administration, we have your backs. Thank you all and thank you, President Trump. Thank you.
Trump: Thank you. Thank you, Pam. And Pete Hegseth, who has been unbelievable at what he's doing. There's nobody better. That was a wise choice. Pete, go ahead.
Hegseth: Well, thank you, Mr. President. Thank you for your historic leadership on Operation Epic Fury. The success you've laid out was only possible because of the military you rebuilt, as well as the historic success here in Memphis. And I want to thank by -- start by thanking every patriot in this room in law enforcement and the nearly 1,500 National Guard members for your heroic efforts in this operation.
You are -- this is more than a task force, this is a statement, a statement, not just in this city but across the nation. And when I look around this table, I'm looking at people that we work with every day, governor, Kash, this team, the National Guard, Pam, Stephen, as was mentioned, Gady, the speaker, at the federal level and the state level, working hand-in-glove.
It doesn't happen any other way. You see, before President Trump, our nation was set on a perpetual course of decline. Our defense industrial base had been hollowed out. Our military had lowered its standard, prioritizing equity over merit and lethality. And right here in cities like Memphis, our people were focused on enduring just what seemed to be the status quo of rampant, vicious crime.
Well, they let their cities burn to the ground, literally, in the name of hallow humanitarianism, weak leaders. And that's what it is, it's weak leaders, previously provided sanctuary for hordes of dangerous, illegal aliens who preyed on our most vulnerable, soft on crime, defund the police nonsense, tied the hands of our brave law enforcement heroes while the bad guys ran wild.
And the most basic tenets of public safety, the foundations of any civilized society were labeled as too toxic to implement. Well, not under President Trump. Such engineered chaos combined with a wide open border -- by the way, thank you for agreeing to sign that declaration for the Memphis troops, the DC troops and the -- the troops on our border.
They'll now be paid and get benefits, just like folks on active duty. Thank you for that, Mr. President. It's an important step of -- of demonstrating how serious this mission is to the Department of War. It's common sense. And it was that same common sense that brought President Trump back to the White House.
People were sick and tired of the never-ending crisis. And under President Trump, we will not allow depraved, suicidal ideologies to destroy our great cities. No longer will we sit idly by while illegal aliens and savage criminals rape, murder and poison the good people of this country. Because every American, without exception, is entitled to safe, clean and beautiful cities, cities where you can walk in peace, cities where law enforcement can do their job.
And to that end, the Department of War stands shoulder to shoulder with state and federal partners so that our streets can be defended once again, kind of like the visual I'm looking at right here. I see a lot of civilian leaders and police, law enforcement leaders in the front. And who's behind you, men and women in camouflage, having your back every single day, like we do in this mission.
So thank you for working tirelessly to protect this state and restore law and order. And the results, they speak for themselves. Your presence has led to a massive reduction in crime, a reduction the good citizens of Memphis deserve. So thank you, Mr. President, for your leadership in restoring, street by street, neighborhood by neighborhood, you are saving Memphis, Tennessee and the country, and we are grateful for it. Thank you, Mr. President.
Trump: Thank you very much. Thank you, Pete. Thank you. Mr. Governor, please.
Bill Lee: Yes, sir. Welcome back to Tennessee, Mr. President, especially to the iconic, great American city that is Memphis. We oftentimes say Nashville's the heart of Tennessee, but Memphis is the soul, and -- Great businesses here, remarkable people, a true rich cultural history, but a serious problem.
And I want to tell you, even for me, today is a very important day, even personally. I'm a man who has loved this city all of my life. My grandparents, my -- my mom, born and raised, my family here. As a young kid, spent time with my cousins roaming the community, the -- the neighborhoods in this city. But sadly, for decades, that was not possible for children to do safely anymore.
And to watch this great city be plagued by crime like it has for decades was a very tough thing for Tennesseans to do. But as was said earlier, what's happened in the last six months has changed that story entirely. And because of your leadership, Mr. President, putting together the Memphis Safe Task Force, putting these people, this leadership team in place, funding and making possible resources that have never before been made available to a city like has been made for Memphis.
Because of that, because of the leadership here and these -- especially these men and women of law enforcement and the National Guard, who have, in fact, gone shoulder to shoulder with not only the multiple agencies involved, but with the people of Memphis. Uh, what has happened here has created generational change and will create generational change and it could not have happened except for what's happening and what we're celebrating here today.
So the people of Memphis are grateful. This governor is grateful. I thank you for the work that's happened. And we are looking to the future. We believe that great things lie ahead for this city. There's a lot of work yet to be done. The General Assembly, and we are working together with the General Assembly to create legislation that will make certain that this is a lasting effect for our city.
I'm very hopeful for the -- for the men and women of Memphis that have prayed for a long time that the violence would stop, for the businesses that have held strong to create jobs and opportunity for Tennesseans. I have a lot of hope for the future. I do believe and have believed all my life that this is a great city, and now, it has it is on a trajectory of greatness beyond where it's been in the past.
Thank you for that. And I will say, uh, I want to introduce Stephen Miller to speak next. There is one person who showed up here early. Actually, multiple people at this table, but he said his commitment to whatever we needed for this city, uh, and for this task force to be successful, uh, he committed that when this -- when this began and it has happened.
And we're not done, but the statistics speak for themselves. What Gady just read out a while ago is hard to imagine, when we first started this just six months ago, that these were going to be the results. Uh, there's more to go but we're grateful for the work. And Stephen, your -- your commitment to us Tennesseans, truly are grateful for it and your commitment to President Trump's strategy not just to make Memphis safe, not just to make Tennessee safe, but to make all of America safe again. So thank you, sir.
Trump: Thank you. Thank you, Bill. Stephen.
Stephen Miller: Thank you. Well, first and most importantly, thank you to President Trump, whose vision and courage and determination has achieved something that if you had predicted it 15 months ago, people would have said it was impossible. If you had said 15 months ago that we would achieve the lowest national murder rate, not in five years or 10 years, or 15 or 20 or 30 or 40, but in 125 years, nobody would have believed it possible.
And President Trump did exactly that and it is a miracle. The -- just think about this for a second. Under President Trump's leadership, the largest reduction in murders in American history, the largest reduction in violent crime in American history, the largest reduction in drug overdose deaths in American history, the largest reduction in fentanyl in American history, the largest reduction in illegal immigration in American history, and the largest number of criminals arrested, removed, or deported in American history, all done in one year.
Right? If I would just say this, if we had an honest media in this country, the statistics I just gave you would be 24/7 on the news. Nobody could have ever predicted such an achievement would be possible. The second thing I want to thank President Trump for is assembling the greatest national security and public safety team in American history, because President Trump believes in merit and competence and people who get things done.
So you look around the table of who President Trump chose for these jobs. You start with Rob or Gady or Pam or Pete, Kash, Todd, Terry, the whole entire team, what President Trump put together has never been rivaled in history. That's how you get things done. He chooses people based on their skill, their competence, their ability, their determination, their dedication and their loyalty, and you're seeing the results.
So I just want to again, thank President Trump and of course, thank the governor as well, who picked up that phone, called President Trump, and said, I want you to help make Memphis safe. Although, I bet the governor would agree, you could never have imagined this safe, this quickly, this many people behind bars.
And let's just remember that because of the president -- because of the work that President Trump is doing, not only in Memphis, not only in Washington, DC, but all over the country, ultimately, it will save and is saving tens of thousands of American lives. It is -- I'll use that word again. What President Trump has done on border security and public safety is a national miracle that will be studied not only for generations, but for centuries to come. Thank you, President Trump.
Trump: Thank you, Steve. So, Kash, see if you can top that. I don't know. That's a tough one, Kash.
Kash Patel: That is tough. You know, Mr. President, as I look around this venue, I see and I'm reminded again why we have the greatest warriors on God's green earth, the men and women serving in uniform, the men and women serving and wearing the badge in law enforcement, our police, our sheriffs around the state of Tennessee.
I'm reminded that Americans exist to protect this country day in and day out and they've done it like we've done it here. But what we didn't have was you. We didn't have a commander in chief who backed the blue, who resourced the blue, who funded the military, who did whatever it takes to safeguard every single life.
And here in Memphis, Tennessee, you have put on a show for the world. You have allowed us to go out there and capture gang bangers, rapists, murderers, drug dealers at record historic levels. And for me, a first generation Indian American kid whose parents fled a genocide in East Africa, to become the ninth director of the FBI, I'm living the wildest dream you could possibly imagine, sir, but it's thanks to you.
But more importantly, what I see when I look out across our great partners here in the interagency and our great legislators and our great prosecutors and our great attorney general, who has the guts to go out there and make arrests, turn them into prosecutions, and put people in prison, you are giving that dream to every single child in the state of Tennessee.
You are inspiring the nation and law enforcement to come up and wear the badge and wear the colors of this country and safeguard our men and women for generations to come. This is an enduring mission, Mr. President, because you have made it enduring. It is going to go on for generations to come. They are going to try to achieve what you accomplished here, what Stephen said, in just one short year, and they're going to be doing it for decades because America was smart enough to elect you as our commander in chief.
So while we're out there fighting for the dreams of our children, just know, Mr. President, how many millions of dreams like mine are going to be lived, thanks to your brilliant leadership. Mr. President, thanks for delivering America the safest, safest, safest country on God's green earth.
Trump: Thank you very much, Kash. Pretty good. [Laughter] He did pretty good. Thank you very much. Mr. Speaker, please.
Cameron Sexton: Thank you, Mr. President. It's great to be here with you today. And you're in the -- obviously, we're in the hottest country, in the hottest state, and now the hottest city, thanks to you, so we appreciate your leadership in that endeavor. Um, also, it takes strong leadership, Mr. President, to do what you do. We thank you for that, and have a strong team as well.
But I'd like to say that I appreciate how resolute you are in your belief and your attitude and I think that's a testament to making America first. Also, I want to thank you for delivering freedom. When we talk about crime, a lot of times we talk about normalcy, but people get used to high crime. They don't understand what low crime is. And in this city, unfortunately, it became a normal thing seeing high crime.
But you deliver freedom to the residents here in Memphis, as well as Governor Lee did. And it's as little as watching a kid -- or a child who said they had a bicycle in their living room, and now they're able to ride it outside. We take that for granted. We take that freedom for granted. But because of you, now here in the city of Memphis, kids can ride their bicycles outside, which they never had experienced before.
And now what has happened, when you have freedom, Mr. President, you have opportunity. You now have hope, you get independence and then comes prosperity and that's what Making America Great is all about. They can be anything they want to be. It doesn't matter where you start out, you can end up wherever you want to be. And that's exactly what you're doing, Mr. President.
And we can talk about crime statistics, but I want to thank you for saving hundreds of lives. And I mean by saving hundreds of lives, it's those individuals who were not shot and killed in the city of Memphis. Those are saved lives that have something else that God's going to give them to do in their life other than be a crime statistic.
You -- in your short period, with your team's approach, there are 10,000 less victims in the city of Memphis. Think about that, that hundreds of lives saved, 10,000 less victims, that is an accomplishment that you have never seen in this aspect. And I appreciate your strong team, all your individuals here.
Also a brilliant mind in Stephen Miller, who I've been able to work with, and we are working, as you said, on legislation, not only illegal immigration, that we're going to lead the country in, which is working its way through the General Assembly, but we're going to Soros-proof the state of Tennessee once and for all, and we're going to take on Bell.
We're going to take on, uh, woke and soft on crime Das. We've already done truth and sentencing. We're working on three strike legislation, but we have a strong General Assembly that will support the governor and me and Lieutenant Governor McNally, who's a great advocate in this endeavor. And the last thing I'll say, Mr. President, is I appreciate your resolve to not allow people's words to distract you from your destiny.
Stephen Miller just laid out what that destiny looked like, which is untouched in our history. Thank you for being resolute and not allowing those who want to take you down, or to cause you harm, to allow you to continue fighting forward to make America what we know it can be, as well as the city of Memphis. Thank you very much, Mr. President.
Trump: Thank you, Speaker. Thank you very much. Great. And now we have the ICE director, very important. He's done a fantastic job. Todd, please.
Todd Lyons: First off, sir, I just want to say on behalf of every law enforcement officer, thank you for letting us do our job again. That's the key thing, the men and women in this room that wear the badge every day, we know that we have a president that has our back. So because of you, we can go out and we can make America safe again.
But honestly, sir, if you just look at what we did, this is what happens when strategy actually meets execution. Um, you know, your model is delivering real results, securing communities and making neighborhoods safe. And if they -- more cities would just take the lead and have the strength and constitution like the governor does to make their major cities safe again, this is a prime example of how to do it. This is a direct reflection, sir, of the model that you put in place.
This and the Homeland Security task forces that you've put into action with your executive order are really what's going to make a difference to this country. You know, one thing, and Gady brought it up, was the Memphis interagency fraud cell. That's key to your promise to the American people, that honest Americans that need that funding will get it. What we're doing is we're having a reduction in fraud when it comes to SNAP benefits, mail fraud, and Medicaid fraud.
And that's key and important for true Americans that believed in you, that you're going to make a difference to make this country great again. While this wasn't an immigration-led operation, sir, we did have 619 illegal aliens arrested, seven of those which were Venezuelans that were paroled into this country are TDA gang members, one El Sol that raped a child in another Honduras male that raped several children.
Because of your leadership, we were able to get these violent criminals out of our neighborhoods and serve Memphis going forward is going to be an example, as Mr. Miller said, for decades to come. So on behalf of the men and women of ICE, of Special Agents of Homeland Security, we thank you for your leadership.
Trump: Thank you very much, Todd. And just if I might, so you're at the front of the storm. The Democrats have caused lots of problems at the airports and all, other places too. We shouldn't be in this position, especially when we're in conflict elsewhere. But how are you doing and how is ICE doing at the airports and helping out?
Lyons: Oh, you know, just have the opportunity to help our other fellow officers at Department of Homeland Security, we're doing great. We're going to make sure that your promise is kept, that we're going to help those lines move, and we're going to make people safe. And no one should be nervous to go to the airport, because we're going to make sure that every traveler in spring break has a safe journey.
Trump: I appreciate it. Great job. You're doing a great job. Thank you very much. Rob Cekada, please. Rob?
Rob Cekada: Mr. President, thank you for your assembling of the Memphis Safe Task Force. The leadership empowered ATF and all of our state and local partners to focus on the most dangerous criminals operating in Memphis. Violent repeat felons, many walking the streets despite having three, four and five felony convictions, are no longer doing so. They're no longer walking these streets without the fear of federal and state law and local and state law enforcement getting together and taking them off the streets.
We focused our efforts on the most violent gang members operating in Memphis, so much so that we've decapitated the leadership of the Rich and Ruthless gang and the Vice Lord gangs operating here in Memphis. Their leadership, their membership, is currently running the streets without any sort of direction.
Uh, the gang members are falling apart. They're weakened. Their ability to coordinate and commit violent crimes are broken down because of the Memphis Safe Task Force. We've also been able to identify numerous firearms trafficking task force. Some of the evidence items that you see here were recovered from violent gang members.
Many of these firearms were converted from semi-automatic weapons to, uh, be able to accept machine gun conversion devices, which now allow these rifles and pistols to shoot full auto. Those weapons were used by the gang members to terrorize this community and commit numerous homicides and numerous aggravated assaults.
Those networks were identified and removed from operations. One in particular was operating three 3D printing machines, making machine gun conversion devices in his house when search warrants were executed by ATF and our Memphis Safe Task Force partners. We are continually focused on preventing violent crime.
In one instance, while we are out on patrol with our state and local partners, our agents responded to a shooting that had just occurred, and located a victim that sustained serious gunshot injuries. Agents were able to render first-aid on the scene and prevent that victim from bleeding out. Victim was transported to the hospital and, ultimately, survived because of the Memphis Safe Task Force being here.
Our agents regularly talk to the members of the community. Uh, the community, uh, when we first arrived, was invisible fear. They were afraid to walk out of their homes to the corner store. They were afraid to sit in their front yards because of being in fear of being victimized, of a -- of a drive-by shooting.
Uh, those people are now approaching our agents and our partners, thanking us every day for being out there and taking the fear away from them so they and their family members could walk their communities and sit in their front yards and talk to their neighbors without fear of being killed or shot. So thank you for your support, uh, of law enforcement and for creating the Memphis Safe Task Force. Thank you, sir.
Trump: Thank you, Rob, and you do a fantastic job. Thank you very much. One of the best crime fighters I know for, really from personal experience, because I've watched him more in DC than here, but I get the reports on what's happening in Memphis, and Terry Cole, please say a few words. Great job.
Terry Cole: Mr. President, thank you for your leadership. It has given law enforcement the tools and the support to take this fight directly to the local street gangs but also the cartels, the designated terrorists that are killing Americans. Your leadership is attacking not only the local street gangs here, but it's attacking the cartels in Mexico.
It's attacking the cartels in Venezuela. It's attacking the cartels in Colombia and Ecuador, and it's setting the example for the world to see that they are designated terrorists. They are fueling the violence in our streets. The DEA, along with our local task forces, are disrupting the supply chain, dismantling networks and saving American lives.
This is America first, this is Americans first. The DEA is proud to stand along with our federal, state, tribal, and local partners here in Memphis, with our amazing military and National Guard. The work has just started, Mr. President. we will take the battle, wherever the battle leads us. But one thing can be rest assured, after you take Maduro out of Venezuela, after you take Mencho out of Mexico, after your diplomatic pressure forces the Mexicans to make a record seizure last week of 270 kilograms of fentanyl that was destined for the United States, this is truly due to your leadership.
It's due to your partnership with law enforcement that enables us to do our job. A few small seizures from this task force is represented in front of you, close to 190 kilograms of cocaine, close to 50 pounds of methamphetamine. But more importantly, this task force seized enough fentanyl to kill in lethal dosages, close to 20 million Americans, 20 million Americans.
In a separate case just outside of Memphis, working with our state and local law enforcement partners, we seized another 25 million lethal doses of fentanyl that was heading to our cities, heading to our streets. I will tell you, Mr. President, in my three tours here to Memphis, to put on the gun, to put on the vest and to go out in the community, I was welcomed.
I was welcomed not only by an amazing Highway Patrol Colonel and his team, but I was welcomed by the community. I was invited to front porches. I was invited to an ice cream social. But that was in between the hard work of the men and women of the DEA and this task force that were conducting daily. See, personally, I served four search warrants with the amazing men and women of DEA and the Memphis Police Department at Tennessee Highway Patrol, because I believe in the mission where you lead from the front.
So thank you for giving us, at the DEA, the power to do our job again. Thank you for giving us these amazing relationships with these task forces and the Homeland Security Task Force and the Memphis Task Force and the Washington, DC Task Force. There's no command we won't go out and complete, Mr. President. We're here to execute your orders. Thank you for your leadership.
Trump: Thank you.
Cole: And thank you for this amazing opportunity to make America safe again, sir. Thank you.
Trump: Thank you, Terry. Great job. Great. So just in finishing up, we have two great people that happen to live here. One is a business owner and a good one. And one's a good one, also, a resident. And we're going to ask you both to say a few words, please.
Tim Pugh: Mr. President, thank you for saving Memphis, and thank you for asking me to share my story. My name is Tim Pugh. I'm a co-founder and president of Pugh's Earthworks and Pugh's Flowers. My brothers and I have two family-owned businesses in Memphis, and this makes -- this year marks our 50th year in business, uh, since we started our American dream.
My entire family, including our new grandbaby, is living and working in Memphis. We want our family to feel -- feel and be safe. We have many friends that have moved away and encouraged their children to move away because of the escalating crime. We love Memphis and call it our home and would never want to move away.
The crime in Memphis has affected my businesses. We've had several delivery vans full of flowers stolen as we're at the front door of someone's house delivering, turn around and the van was gone. Um, we've had landscape equipment stolen from job sites, so now we have to lock each piece of equipment to the truck while we're working on a property.
And because of multiple break-ins, including one night we had five vans with the Cadillac converter stolen on all five. Uh, due to repeated theft, we had to install an electric fence and multiple cameras around our main store to prevent this theft. All of this adds significant financial burdens and man hours.
In the spring of last year, uh, members of one of my landscape crews were robbed at gunpoint. This type of action became too normal in this city that I was raised in and honestly, I felt that we were on a path of no return. How could we continue to operate our business when theft was rampant and God forbid, lives were lost?
Thankfully for you, Mr. President, we don't have to live and operate that way anymore. We have a great police force in Memphis, but they just needed reinforcements to get the crime under control. So thank you for bringing in those much needed reinforcements. Our mayor is doing a good job. Each week, he's sending out emails of the progress.
And just last Friday, it was reported that crime was down well over 40 percent. Honestly, Mr. President, I feel like crime is down 100 percent, and that is because of what you've done. We want Memphis to grow and prosper, and to do that, you must have a low crime rate. People have to feel safe. That wasn't the case before, but now it is. Thank you to the task force and our city leaders for working together to make this happen. And thank you, Mr. President. Memphis owes you a lot of gratitude. Thank you.
Trump: Thank you very much, Tim. Thank you. Great. And your business is doing well? That's great. It's going to get better and better, you watch. Thank you very much. Dalisia?
Dalisia Ballinger: Thank you so much, Mr. President. It is a complete honor to be here with you today. Thank you for saving Memphis. My name is Delicia Ballinger, and I'm a lifelong Memphian, and I'm a mother. And I wanted to speak with you today, not just as a citizen, but as a mom who's lived through what Memphis has become.
I remember a different Memphis. I remember when the city felt alive, when families didn't have to think twice about safety, when kids could just go outside and just be kids. We have places to go, things to do, and a sense of pride about where we come from. But over the years, that Memphis has faded and what it was replaced with was fear.
Before the Memphis Safe Task Force, I just didn't hear about crime, I lived it. I watched friends and people that I love lose their lives to the senseless violence. I've attended funerals that never should have happened. I've seen families torn apart, mothers grieving and children growing up without parents, all because of violence that felt like it would never end.
And those moments stay with you. They change how you see everything. But nothing's changed more than becoming a mother, because now it wasn't just my life that I was worried about, it was my children. There were days where I wouldn't let them go outside, not because I didn't want them to, but because I was afraid what would happen if I did, in the fear of stray bullets, the sounds of gunshots at night, constantly wondering if they were truly safe.
And that fear became real in a way that no mother should ever have to experience. At just five years old, I could have lost my son. There was a drive-by shooting and a random bullet came through my home in that -- in that very same space where my son played. Until that day, this bullet hole is still in my wall, a permanent reminder of how close I came to losing everything.
My family and I, we are good people. We work hard every day to have -- to have everything that we have, only to have it taken away from us. We've experienced multiple burglaries in our home, and it wasn't just the material things that were stolen, it was our sense of security, our peace, our livelihood. And that violence just wasn't inside of our home, it was all around us. Just literally four houses down from where I live, a grandmother and her child were shot.
I remember what sounded like almost 30 gunshots ring out. Yellow -- yellow tape covered the street. After that day, those neighbors never returned. Their home, now with a for sale sign, stands as a reminder of a fear so deep that they couldn't come back to the place where they almost lost their lives. And that feeling, that fear, is something that my family knows all too well.
That is not how families are supposed to live. That is not how children are supposed to grow up. We've reached out for help. For years, we looked to our local leaders, hoping that something, anything will change, but nothing did and that wasn't until you, my president, stepped in. I need you to understand what that meant for families like mine because in a matter of weeks, we felt a difference.
Today, I can sit out on my porch and drink tea in peace. My children can go outside and play in our backyard again. And for the first time in five years, I don't hear any gunshots in my neighborhood. It's been -- it's been almost six months and it's like a whole new world. That silence means everything to me. It means safety.
It means peace. It means that I can breathe again as a mother. What years of waiting couldn't fix, you did it in just three weeks. And I'll never forget that. My family will never forget that. And what's even more powerful is that that impact did not stop there. Because of the Memphis Safe Task Force, it has sparked continued efforts right here at home, like the Make Memphis Matter Movement led by the incredible, the most awesome state Senator Brant Taylor, starting in 2023, who is putting his best foot forward every day to continue the mission to make it a safer Memphis and to hold our [Inaudible] backed DA accountable at a state level and partnering with the amazing Senators Hagerty and Blackburn on the federal level.
And it's because of leadership like that, I believe that Memphis can become that place that I once remember. So from the bottom of my heart, thank you. Thank you for seeing communities like mine. Thank you for taking action. Thank you for putting Americans first, especially right here in Shelby County and Memphis, because this isn't politics for me, this is my life.
This is my -- and this is for my children. In fact, President Trump, my son, my beautiful son is here today and he would like to wave and say thank you because now he's free to live a normal childhood. Braylen [ph], stand up for me, baby. [Applause] And because of that change, we finally have a sense of normal again. Again, from the bottom of my heart, I -- I truly don't have the words to share how much I appreciate you. Thank you so much, sir. Memphis loves you, President Trump. Thank you.
Trump: Thank you very much. Wow. I don't know, Delisia. I think we're going to have to give her MVP, right? MVP Delisia. That's a great job. Thank you very much. Great job. I think she has to run for office. Would you like to become a Republican?
Ballinger: I am.
Trump: She said, I am a Republican. I love this. Anyway, great job. Thank you very much. Appreciate it, really beautiful. So you're going to see some fantastic results. You already have, but you're going to see some numbers that are going to bring you into a level that few cities attain. I want to thank the governor. I want to thank the state. The state is just a fantastic state. The first day I stepped in it, we were leading by 30 points and it never went down.
Ballinger: It just only went up, so it's something special. We have a bond. We have a special bond. You know, you can be a politician, but when you win something in a landslide, landslide, landslide, you have a very, very great feeling. And I want to tell you, this is a very, very successful, beautiful state and I love Tennessee.
Trump: Thank you very much and congratulations to Memphis, and fantastic job. Thank you. Thank you, everybody, very much. Thank you.