Residents of Memphis File Lawsuit Against Trump-Backed Task Force

Four Memphis residents have filed a lawsuit against the administration of US President Donald Trump, alleging harassment by agents involved in the city’s immigration and crime crackdown task force. The complaint, filed on Wednesday, focuses on the Memphis Safe Task Force, a law enforcement initiative launched in September in collaboration with state and local officials.

The plaintiffs claim that task force agents responded to bystanders who recorded enforcement activities with hostility, including threats of arrest and physical intimidation. Government vehicles were allegedly swerved at activists monitoring enforcement operations. The lawsuit describes 120,000 traffic stops conducted by the task force in the majority-Black city, which has a population of nearly 610,000.

The complaint lists several defendants, including Acting US Attorney General Todd Blanche, heads of federal agencies such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and state officials. The US government has denied any wrongdoing related to the Memphis Safe Task Force, stating that it remains committed to fair, impartial, and professional law enforcement practices.

The lawsuit is part of a larger trend of crackdowns in left-leaning cities, including Los Angeles, Chicago, and Washington, DC. Critics have argued that Trump’s actions exceeded his powers as president by deploying military forces without state approval. Federal agents involved in these crackdowns have been accused of ignoring civil liberties and profiling residents based on race and ethnicity.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is representing the plaintiffs in the lawsuit. According to Scarlet Kim, a senior staff lawyer at the ACLU, recording publicly visible law enforcement activity is a core First Amendment right.

Source: Al Jazeera