By ADRIAN SAINZ

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — A task force ordered by President Donald Trump to combat crime in Memphis, Tennessee, has made thousands of arrests, compounding strains on the busy local court system and an already overcrowded jail in ways that concerned officials say will last months or even years as cases play out.

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Since late September, hundreds of federal, state and local law enforcement personnel tied to the Memphis Safe Task Force have made traffic stops, served warrants and searched for fugitives in the city of about 610,000 people. More than 2,800 people have been arrested and more than 28,000 traffic citations have been issued, data provided by the task force and Memphis police shows.

The task force, which includes National Guard troops, is supported by Republican Gov. Bill Lee and others who hope the surge reduces crime in a city that has grappled with violent crime, including nearly 300 homicides last year and nearly 400 in 2023.

On Monday, Attorney General Pam Bondi traveled to Memphis to meet with officers and tout the task force’s success in taking suspects and illegal guns off the street. Bondi and other law enforcement leaders later served food to officers to thank them for their work.

Asked about the strain on the local criminal justice system, U.S. Marshals Service Director Gadyaces Serralta said authorities are bringing as many cases as they can in federal court. He said federal officials are open to working with state prosecutors to find ways to speed up prosecutions.

“If we don’t speed up the process, it’s going to continue to back up,” Serralta said. But, he said, “because we can’t put them through the criminal justice system does not mean that it’s a free pass to commit crimes. We’re going to keep arresting folks. They keep committing crimes, we’re going to keep arresting them.”

From 2018 to 2024, homicides in Memphis increased 33% and aggravated assaults rose 41%, according to AH Datalytics, which tracks crimes across the country using local law enforcement data for its Real-Time Crime Index. But AH Datalytics reported those numbers were down 20% during the first nine months of this year, even before the task force got to work.

Opponents of the task force in majority-Black Memphis say it targets minorities and intimidates law-abiding Latinos, some of whom have skipped work and changed social habits, such as avoiding going to church or restaurants, fearing they will be harassed and unfairly detained. Statistics released at the end of October showed 319 arrests so far on administrative warrants, which deal with immigration-related issues.

FILE – Federal law enforcement officers detain a man, right, Oct. 11, 2025, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV, File)

The effects have rippled beyond the streets, into the aging criminal courthouse and the troubled jail. Officials are concerned about long waits in traffic court causing people to miss work and packed criminal court dockets forcing inmates to spend extra days waiting for bail hearings.

“The human cost of it is astounding,” said Josh Spickler, executive director for Just City, a Memphis-based organization that advocates for fairness in the criminal justice system.

The mayor of Shelby County, which includes Memphis, has requested more judges to hear cases that could span months or years. County officials are discussing opening court at night and on weekends, a move that would help manage the caseload but cost more.

Meanwhile, Shelby County Jail inmates are being moved to other facilities because of overcrowding, officials say. Inmates at jail intake are sleeping in chairs, and jail officials are asking county commissioners for funding to help address problems, such as a corrections employees shortage.

These issues raise concerns from activists and officials about safety in a jail that has seen 65 deaths since 2019, according to Just City. Court case backlogs mean defendants and crime victims could spend an unfair amount of time dealing with the criminal justice system, said Steve Mulroy, the county’s district attorney.

“The task force deployment probably could have used more planning,” said Mulroy, a Democrat whose office is cooperating with the task force. “More thought could have been put into the downstream effects of the increased arrest numbers.”

Jail official asks for help

There were hundreds more jail bookings and bail settings during the first several weeks of the task force’s operation than during the comparable period last year, an increase of about 40% in each category, according to county statistics.

The jail, which has a regular capacity of 2,400, had an average daily population of 3,195 inmates in September, the most recent month when statistics were available. County officials said that number was expected to rise for October.

As of mid-November, 250 overflow jail detainees were being housed at other facilities, compared with 80 in November 2024. Some of those are outside Shelby County, which makes it harder for lawyers and relatives to visit and increases the cost of bringing defendants to Memphis for hearings.

In a letter to commissioners, Chief Jailer Kirk Fields has requested at least $1.5 million in emergency funds, noting that more inmates means more expenses for food, clothing, bedding and linens.

Help with the courts

One issue is whether there are enough judges to hear cases, especially after lawmakers eliminated two judgeships during last year’s session.

On Oct. 31, Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris wrote to state court officials asking for additional judges, saying the county is preparing for at least 3,500 to 5,000 people being arrested. More arrests increase jail expenses and the possible hiring of more public defenders, prosecutors and jail employees, he wrote.

“This places Shelby County in extreme financial peril,” Harris wrote.

The Tennessee Supreme Court’s response said that while lower court judges reported more judges are not necessary at this time, it has designated two senior judges to help should they be needed.

“Part of it is, understanding just what the cadence is going to look like over the next few months and then developing a strategy,” the governor said earlier this month, noting that the state is monitoring the situation.

FILE – Gov. Bill Lee speaks about the blast at Accurate Energetic Systems during a news conference, Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025, in McEwen, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV, file)

Some officials have proposed Saturday court sessions and night court sessions two or three nights a week, Mulroy said. They’ve considered having a clinic where people facing misdemeanor warrants could surrender, to help clear those up.

Mulroy’s office also is reevaluating whether detention is necessary for people jailed in hundreds of low-level cases.

“If there’s no basis to think they’re a danger to the community or a flight risk, and they’re in there just because they can’t afford their bail, we can take a second look,” he wrote.

Task force says it’s being effective

Ryan Guay, a U.S. Marshals Service and task force spokesperson, told The Associated Press that the high volume of arrests reflects the force’s effectiveness.

“We recognize that this success places additional demands on the broader criminal justice system, including courts and detention facilities,” Guay said.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons has said that it is making a satellite prison camp available to the task force. The bureau said the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office would assume oversight of the facility. A sheriff’s office spokesperson declined to comment on the camp’s location, citing operational security.

Associated Press reporters Christopher L. Keller in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Alanna Durkin Richer in Memphis contributed.

By REBECCA SANTANA and ELLIOT SPAGAT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration plans a review of all refugees admitted to the U.S. during the Biden administration, according to a memo obtained Monday by The Associated Press, in the latest blow against a program that has for decades welcomed people fleeing war and persecution into the country.

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The review is likely to sow confusion and fear among the nearly 200,000 refugees who came to the United States during that period. It is likely to face legal challenges from advocates, some of whom said the move was part of the administration’s “cold-hearted treatment” of people trying to build new lives in the U.S.

The memo, signed by the director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Joseph Edlow, and dated Friday, said that during the Biden years “expediency” and “quantity” were prioritized over “detailed screening and vetting.” The memo said that warranted a comprehensive review and “re-interview of all refugees admitted from January 20, 2021, to February 20, 2025.”

The memo indicated that there will be a list of people to re-interview within three months.

Advocates of the refugee program say that refugees are generally some of the most vetted of all people coming to the United States and that they often wait years to be able to come.

The memo also immediately suspended green card approvals for refugees who came to the U.S. during the stated time period.

“USCIS is ready to uphold the law and ensure the refugee program is not abused,” Edlow wrote.

People admitted to the U.S. as refugees are required to apply for a green card one year after they arrive in the country and usually five years after that can apply for citizenship.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the Department of Homeland Security and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The moves described in the memo are the latest to take aim at the refugee program, which the administration suspended earlier this year and later set a limit for entries to 7,500 mostly white South Africans — a historic low of refugees to be admitted to the U.S. since the program’s inception in 1980. The Trump administration more broadly has ramped up immigration enforcement as part of its promise to increase deportations of illegal immigrants.

The Biden administration admitted 185,640 refugees from October 2021 through September 2024. Refugee admissions topped 100,000 last year, with the largest numbers coming from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Afghanistan, Venezuela and Syria.

Refugee advocates slammed news of the review, saying that it will traumatize people who have already gone through extensive vetting to make it to the U.S. in the first place.

“This plan is shockingly ill-conceived,” said Naomi Steinberg, vice president of U.S. policy and advocacy at HIAS, a refugee resettlement agency. “This is a new low in the administration’s consistently cold-hearted treatment of people who are already building new lives and enriching the communities where they have made their homes.”

USCIS expects to have a priority list for re-interviews within 90 days, Edlow wrote. His language points to a rigorous revisiting of why refugee status was granted in the first place.

“Testimony will include, but is not limited to, the circumstances establishing past persecution or a well-founded fear for principal refugees, the persecutor bar, and any other potential inadmissibilities,” he wrote.

Sharif Aly, President of the International Refugee Assistance Project, an advocacy group, criticized the administration’s actions in a statement late Monday, saying that refugees are “already the most highly vetted immigrants in the United States.”

“Besides the enormous cruelty of this undertaking, it would also be a tremendous waste of government resources to review and re-interview 200,000 people who have been living peacefully in our communities for years,” Aly said.

IRAP is currently part of a lawsuit seeking to overturn the administration’s suspension of refugee admissions.

Spagat reported from San Diego.

By SOPHIE BATES

The barn in Mississippi where 14-year-old Emmett Till was tortured and killed will open to the public as a “sacred” memorial site by 2030, the new owner announced.

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The Emmett Till Interpretive Center disclosed late Sunday that it had purchased the barn located in a rural area outside the city of Drew, aided by a $1.5 million donation from television producer and writer Shonda Rhimes.

“We think that where the worst harms have happened, the most healing is possible,” ETIC Executive Director Patrick Weems said.

The center plans to open the barn as a memorial ahead of the 75th anniversary of Till’s lynching in 1955.

Two white men publicly confessed to the killing after being acquitted by an all-white jury in Mississippi later that year, but a Justice Department report released in 2021 said at least one more, unnamed person was involved in Till’s abduction. Experts who’ve studied the case believe others participated, from a half-dozen to more than 14.

Till was abducted from his great-uncle’s home on Aug. 28, 1955, after the Chicago teenager was accused of whistling at a white woman in a rural Mississippi grocery store. According to accounts, the men took Till to the barn, where they tortured and killed him. His body was later found in the Tallahatchie River.

At Till’s funeral, his mother insisted on an open casket so the public could see the state of her son’s battered body. It was a pivotal moment in the emerging Civil Rights movement.

Weems said he hopes opening the barn to the public will encourage people to ask questions about a dark chapter in American history.

“Have we done enough? Is there justice yet? Has our society moved in the direction of human rights so that this sort of thing never happens?” Weems said.

The center will have the barn under 24-hour surveillance, and the property will be equipped with floodlights and security cameras, Weems said, calling those measures precautionary.

A historical marker, erected where Till’s body was discovered, has been replaced three times after being vandalized. The first marker was stolen and thrown into the river in 2008. The second was shot more than 100 times by 2014. It was replaced in 2018, and shot another 35 times. Now the marker is the only bulletproof historical marker in the country, according to Weems.

Weems noted that Sunday, the day the barn was purchased, was the birthday of Till’s mother, Mamie Till-Mobley. Till’s mother was a civil rights activist in the aftermath of her son’s death and died in 2003.

BY FERNANDA FIGUEROA

As the first year of President Donald Trump’s second term comes to a close, two new polls from the Pew Research Center find that Hispanic adults are increasingly unhappy with the way his administration is handling the economy and immigration, issues that were key for voters during last year’s election.

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The surveys of more than 5,000 Hispanic adults in the U.S., conducted in October and September, found that a year after Trump eroded the Democrats’ traditional advantage with Latino voters, most Hispanic adults are feeling worse about their place in the country, and they’re more likely to be worried that they or someone close to them could be deported than they were earlier this year.

Declining approval of Trump

About two-thirds of Hispanic adults overall disapprove of the Trump administration’s approach to immigration, while 61% say his economic policies have made conditions worse.

Hispanic voters shifted toward Trump in the 2024 election, though a majority still backed Democrat Kamala Harris. According to AP VoteCast, 43% of Hispanic voters nationally supported Trump, up from 35% in the 2020 presidential election, which he lost to Democrat Joe Biden.

The vast majority of Hispanics who reported voting for Trump in 2024 — 81% — approve of the president’s job performance, although that’s declined from 93% at the start of his second term. Nearly all Hispanic Harris voters disapprove of Trump’s performance.

Pew’s findings echo an October survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, which found that 25% of Hispanic adults have a “somewhat” or “very” favorable view of Trump, down from 44% in an AP-NORC poll conducted just before the Republican took office in January.

FILE – A sign is displayed at the Latino Americans for Trump office in Reading, Pa., June 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Luis Andres Henao, File)

The shift in opinion underscores how worried and dissatisfied many Hispanic adults feel. Although many Hispanic voters were motivated by economic concerns in last year’s election, recent polls indicate that Hispanic adults continue to feel higher financial stress than Americans overall.

Hispanic voters made up 10% of the electorate in 2024, according to AP VoteCast, and the number of eligible Hispanic voters has been growing rapidly in recent decades.

Rising anxiety about Hispanics’ place in the U.S.

About two-thirds of Hispanic adults say the situation for Hispanics in the U.S. is worse than it was a year ago. That’s higher than in 2019, during Trump’s first term, when 39% thought U.S. Hispanics’ situation had worsened over the past year.

Similarly, about 8 in 10 Hispanic adults say Trump’s policies harm more than help them. These views are more negative than in 2019, when about 7 in 10 said the first Trump administration’s policies were more harmful to Hispanics than helpful.

The Hispanics who are Democrats or lean toward the Democratic Party overwhelmingly think U.S. Hispanics are worse off, as a group, than they were a year ago, but so do 43% of Hispanic Republicans and Republican-leaners.

Broad worries about immigration enforcement

Over the past few months, Hispanic communities have been a target of the president’s hard-line immigration tactics.

FILE – A bicyclist passes Definitive Selection clothing store, one of many businesses in the predominantly Latino neighborhood that has seen a slowdown in foot traffic since President Donald Trump’s threats of a federal law enforcement intervention, Sept. 5, 2025, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Mark Vancleave, File)

Today, 44% of Latinos adults are immigrants, numbering 21.1 million, according to a Pew analysis of U.S. Census Bureau estimates from the 2024 American Community Survey.

Amid the heightened enforcement, 52% of Hispanic adults say they worry “a lot” or “some” that they, a family member or a close friend could be deported. This is up from 42% in March.

The tough immigration environment has also affected the way some Hispanic adults live their everyday lives, with 19% saying they have recently changed their daily activities because they think they’ll be asked to prove their legal status, and 11% saying they carry documents proving their citizenship or immigration status more often than they normally would.

The Pew Research Center survey of 8,046 U.S. adults, including 4,923 Hispanics, was conducted Oct. 6-16 using samples drawn from the probability-based American Trends Panel and SSRS Opinion Panel. A second survey of 3,445 U.S. adults, including 629 Hispanics, was conducted Sept. 22 to 28, 2025 using samples drawn from the probability-based American Trends Panel.