Stephen Miller traveled to Memphis this week to announce what he called an unprecedented federal operation to help local police take back the city from violent crime. Speaking to a room of Memphis police officers, Miller struck a combative tone, declaring that “all that bullsh*t is done” and promising that every neighborhood would once again be made safe. He insisted that it was unacceptable for there to be “a single inch” of the city where residents live in fear.
He outlined a sweeping plan that he described as an “all-of-government, unlimited support operation.” Rather than a small, temporary task force, Miller said the surge would bring together the full weight of federal law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, DEA, ATF, ICE, and the Department of War. According to Miller, this meant dozens of highly trained officers with extensive experience dismantling cartels, arresting kingpins, and handling the nation’s most violent offenders would now be embedded directly with Memphis police.
“These will not be desk officers or bureaucrats,” Miller told the crowd. “We are sending in real cops with guns and badges to go out on the streets with you every night, making arrests and taking criminals off the map.”
He emphasized that the federal government’s role was not simply to back up Memphis police from afar but to stand “shoulder to shoulder” with them in daily patrols and targeted raids. He pledged that every possible resource, from advanced technology to interagency intelligence, would be at the city’s disposal.
Miller urged Memphis officers to commit fully to the joint mission, promising that their participation was the key to the operation’s success. “All we ask from you is to show up at roll call every single night with your brothers and sisters in the federal government,” he said. “If you do that, I pledge we will liberate this city from the criminal element that has plagued it for generations.”
He closed by framing the initiative as both a moral duty and a promise to the people of Memphis that the federal government would not stand by while communities remained gripped by fear.
