Four Memphis residents on Wednesday took legal action against the Trump administration’s Memphis Safe Task Force, filing a federal lawsuit that accuses the multi-agency operation of systematically retaliating against citizens who exercise their First Amendment right to observe and record police activity. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Nashville, names U.S. and Tennessee officials as defendants and asks the court to declare the retaliation unconstitutional and to prohibit further interference with lawful observation.
The task force, comprising agents from 13 federal agencies alongside the Tennessee Highway Patrol and National Guard, has been a fixture in Memphis — a city of about 610,000 people that is 64% Black — since late September 2025. By the task force’s own count, it has made more than 120,000 traffic stops and over 9,000 arrests, and the Department of Justice says it has arrested 951 gang members and recovered 150 missing children. But the lawsuit paints a starkly different picture for residents. It contends that for many, the daily reality of the task force is not safety but fear — of being stopped, menaced, and arrested for “routine, day-to-day activities,” and of facing retaliation for simply pulling out a phone to document what agents are doing.
Hunter Demster, one of the plaintiffs, described a representative encounter. He was in a neighborhood with a large Hispanic population when he saw task force agents conducting a traffic stop. He began filming and told the people inside the car that they had the right not to speak to police. “It is a terrifying feeling,” Demster said. “I did nothing illegal. I used my First Amendment protected rights to hold up a phone and say some ‘know your rights’ information.”
The lawsuit specifically challenges a Tennessee statute — dubbed the “Halo Law” — that requires observers to stand at least 25 feet from law enforcement officers if warned to do so, under threat of arrest. Scarlet Kim, a senior staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project, said the law is written so broadly that officers can invoke it even against people who are not impeding their work. “When observers go to the scene of task force activity and they are observing, they’re gathering information,” Kim said. “They are picking up their phones and cameras and documenting what’s happening. That’s all core protected First Amendment activity.”
The Department of Justice, in a statement issued Wednesday, rejected the lawsuit’s claims. “In eight months, the Memphis Safe Task Force has made over 9,000 arrests, including 951 known gang members, and located 150 missing children, drastically increasing public safety in the Memphis community,” the statement said. “The Department will not tolerate any action that puts our law enforcement officers at risk. We strongly disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit and remain committed to fair, impartial, and professional law enforcement practices.”
The task force is part of a broader Trump administration effort to deploy National Guard troops and surge federal law enforcement in cities, particularly those controlled by Democrats. Officials including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, former Attorney General Pam Bondi, and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller have visited Memphis to praise the operation. Miller in October predicted the surge would make the city “safer than any of you could ever possibly imagine.” The lawsuit asks the court to declare that retaliating against the plaintiffs for observing and recording law enforcement is unconstitutional and to bar agents from further retaliation. It also seeks a declaration that the state’s Halo Law cannot be used against observers who are not interfering with law enforcement duties.