(Kim Jarrett, The Center Square) U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said Thursday 93 people were arrested in the first few days of the Memphis Safe Task Force.
The task force includes support from 13 federal agencies, including the FBI and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
“Yesterday 40 arrests were made including a Tren de Aragua terrorist, a felon in possession of a firearm, a man wanted for rape of a child, and an arrest for assault on a federal officer,” Bondi said on social media. “To date, there have been 93 arrests and 28 illegal guns seized. Our work is saving lives.”
Bondi and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth stopped in Memphis on Wednesday amid the shutdown of the federal government.
“Even though the Democrats shut down the government and stopped their pay – the Tennessee National Guard will never quit,” Hegseth said on social media.
Tennessee state Sen. Jeff Yarbro, D-Nashville, has challenged the National Guard’s presence in Memphis. He accused Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti of changing opinions about their presence.
“In short, only circumstances amounting to a rebellion or invasion permit the governor to call out the militia, and even then, the Legislature must declare, by law, that the public safety requires it,” Yarbro said, referring to 2021 and 2024 opinions.
Skrmetti said opinions were not legally binding.
“If the folks at the press conference are insinuating my office withdrew these opinions six months before the election to pave the way for Trump policies a year and a half later, they have bigger problems than this legal question,” Skrmetti said in an email to The Center Square. “If I could see the future like that, I’d be neck deep in Bitcoin and Pokémon cards.”
