Stephen Miller landed in Memphis this week and did what too many timid Washington figures refuse to do: he told the truth about lawlessness and pledged federal muscle to protect ordinary Americans. Flanked by Attorney General Pam Bondi and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Miller announced the launch of a multiagency “Memphis Safe Task Force” and made clear this administration will not stand by while criminals run roughshod over neighborhoods.
In a blunt, no-nonsense address to local officers he declared they are “unleashed,” promising the full weight of federal, state and local resources to dismantle criminal networks and restore safety to the streets. That kind of plainspoken commitment — an end to the euphemisms and excuses — is exactly what citizens have been demanding after years of soft-on-crime policies that rewarded criminals and punished victims.
Conservatives should celebrate leaders who put families before the feelings of career activists and woke prosecutors. For too long, elite commentary from coastal enclaves has treated crime as an abstraction while parents in real communities rearrange their lives to avoid danger; Miller’s speech was a much-needed reminder that the first duty of government is to keep people safe, not to coddle criminals.
The initial results of the task force show action, not empty rhetoric: officials reported dozens of arrests and the deployment of National Guard personnel and federal officers to support Memphis law enforcement during the early phase of operations. Those boots-on-the-ground efforts, coordinated across agencies, are already disrupting the networks that terrorize neighborhoods and sell poison on street corners.
Of course the usual chorus of media moralizing and partisan hand-wringing predictably responded with outrage, framing enforcement as “militaristic” or insensitive to root causes. That talking point is tired and dishonest — asking police to do their jobs and backing them up with resources is not an affront to civil liberties, it’s the very definition of government fulfilling its responsibility to protect life and property.
If critics want to help, they should stop vetoing commonsense policing and start supporting policies that break the cycle of violent recidivism and illegal immigration that fuel the street-level criminal economy. The American people are tired of living in fear and watching career politicians excuse failure; what they want is accountability, arrests, and safe streets for kids to grow up in.
This moment in Memphis can be a template for other cities that have been betrayed by soft-on-crime orthodoxy: stand with the police, stop apologizing for enforcing the law, and put hardworking families first. Patriots should cheer officials who put safety above politics and remind every elected leader that the only relevant metric is whether citizens can walk their neighborhoods without fear.
