Mayor Young tells Hispanic leaders Memphis Police Department is working with ICE

Photo by Daniel Connolly
Audience members at a town hall meeting Monday look at the photos that activist Maria Alejandra Oceja projected onto a screen. Oceja said this photo shows a Homeland Security Investigations officer — a type of ICE officer — in the passenger seat of a Memphis Police Department vehicle. — Photo by Daniel Connolly Audience members at a town hall meeting Monday look at the photos that activist Maria Alejandra Oceja projected onto a screen. Oceja said this photo shows a Homeland Security Investigations officer — a type of ICE officer — in the passenger seat of a Memphis Police Department vehicle.

By Daniel Connolly / Tennessee Lookout October 24, 2025 10 min read

This story was originally published by The Institute for Public Service Reporting Memphis.

Mayor Paul Young confirmed late Monday in a contentious town hall meeting with Hispanic residents that the Memphis Police Department is cooperating with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

His statements before a crowd of hundreds in East Memphis came as a remarkable development considering that city leaders for years had denied any collaboration between the police force and ICE.

Young said his aim in allowing the cooperation was to steer federal agents away from mass deportation and toward helping MPD investigate murders and other violent crimes.

If he fought the administration of President Donald Trump, as officials in Chicago are doing, the federal government would respond with even harsher tactics, he said.