Local and federal law enforcement officers are “unleashed” to fight crime in Memphis, Tennessee, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller said Wednesday night, alongside Attorney General Pam Bondi and War Secretary Pete Hegseth. Memphis is the first U.S. city other than Washington where Trump’s federal crackdown on crime is going operational. “To the guns and badges in this room, you are unleashed,” Miller said. “The handcuffs you’re carrying? They’re not on you anymore, they’re on the criminals.” “You know who the villains are. You know who the gang bangers are. You know who the drug dealers are. You know who is causing all the bloodshed and misery in this city,” Miller told Memphis police and members of a dozen federal agencies that make up the “Memphis Safe Task Force.” “We are about to provide you with a level of support that you cannot even imagine.” “Every resource we have-federal, state, and local-we are going to use to dismantle their networks without apology and without mercy,” he said. “We are going to bulldoze the criminal element in this city and thereby liberate all the law-abiding citizens in this city.” “This is not just a strategy shift. This is an attitude shift,” he said. “We are not going to live in an environment where there is a street anywhere that belongs to a criminal, where there is a neighborhood that belongs to a gang, where there is any physical space anywhere that belongs to anyone other than the law-abiding citizens and families of Memphis.” “The idea that there is a square inch or block in this city where a citizen does not feel safe is unacceptable,” Miller said. “This is Memphis. This is the United States of America. And all that bullsh-t is done. It’s over. It’s finished.”

STEPHEN MILLER: To the Memphis Police Department, the officers that I see sitting in front of me: we are about to provide you with a level of support that you cannot even imagine. This is not just a task force. This is an all-of-government, unlimited-support operation – ATF, DEA, FBI, ICE, Department of War, every resource we have. They are not going to be sitting behind the desk at a keyboard. We are sending in real cops with guns and badges to go out with you on the street every single night, making arrests. These are people who have taken down drug cartels, kingpins, the worst criminal offenders in the United States, standing with you, shoulder to shoulder to shoulder. All we ask of you is to show up at roll call every single night with your brothers and sisters from the federal government, and to go out and get the criminals off the street. If you do that, I pledge to you we will liberate this city from the criminal element that has plagued it for generations. This is not just a strategy shift. This is an attitude shift. You are not going to live in an environment anywhere where there is a street that belongs to a criminal, where there is a neighborhood that belongs to a gang, where there is any physical space anywhere that belongs to anyone other than the law-abiding citizens and families of Memphis. The idea that there is a square inch or block in this city where a citizen does not feel safe is unacceptable. This is Memphis. This is the United States of America. And all that bullsh-t is done. It’s over. It’s finished. You know, the gang bangers that you deal with – they think that they are ruthless. They have no idea how ruthless we are. They think they are tough. They have no idea how tough we are. They think that they are hard-core. We are so much more hard-core than they are, and we have the entire weight of the United States government behind us. What do they have? They have nothing behind them. So we are going to win. They are going to lose. We are going to rescue Memphis. It will not only be safer than ever before, but Memphis will be richer than ever before, because President Trump decided this is a priority. When President Trump makes a decision, this team behind me executes.

Miller spoke to a second group of officers that evening:

MILLER: So, our vision here is very simple: zero tolerance for crime in the city of Memphis. We are taking broken windows to the next level. Every criminal infraction that we can enforce against the element in this city that has been causing all of the heartache, pain, suffering, and death, we are going to enforce. Everyone who’s been out on the streets-you know who the bad guys are. You know who the villains are. You know who the gang bangers are. You know who the drug dealers are. You know who is causing all the bloodshed and misery in this city. Every resource we have-federal, state, and local-we are going to use to dismantle their networks without apology and without mercy. Everything we have, we are going to bulldoze the criminal element in this city and thereby liberate all the law-abiding citizens in this city. We’re going to send the message: this city belongs to people who follow the law and obey the rules. And we’re not going to live one more day in fear of criminals. No one should have to change their life path, change their routine, change when they go out, where they go out, what they do for fear of criminals. The idea that any person living in a city would say, “I can’t walk down this block by myself,” or “I can’t leave my house at this time of night,” or “I can’t let my kids go to that store or that corner”-are you kidding me? We’re going to tell our own families and children where they can and can’t go because of what a criminal is going to do? Over our dead bodies-we are not going to live that way anymore. It’s not happening. I see the guns and badges in this room; you are unleashed. The handcuffs that you’re carrying, they’re not on you anymore. They’re on the criminals. And whatever you need to get it done, we’re going to get it done. State, local, federal. On President Trump’s promise, we are going to get it done.

Here are the full videos of both announcements:
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