Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi met with Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee in Memphis on Wednesday, shortly after a task force of federal law enforcement agencies ordered by President Donald Trump began operating in the city.

Video from a media pool showed Hegseth arriving by plane and shaking hands with the Republican governor, who has supported the law enforcement surge. Bondi was also present.

Bondi said in a social media post that the Memphis Safe Task Force has made more than 50 arrests over a two-day period. The agents, who include personnel from immigration and drug enforcement, have begun serving criminal arrest warrants while teaming with state agencies like the Tennessee Highway Patrol to make traffic stops. Bondi said more than 200 officers were deputized.

The task force is part of a larger effort by Trump to use National Guard troops and surge federal law enforcement in American cities, particularly ones controlled by Democrats. Following troop deployments in the District of Columbia and Los Angeles, he referred to Portland, Oregon, as “war-ravaged” and threatened apocalyptic force in Chicago.

In Memphis, mobile command centers for the U.S. Marshals Service and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation have been set up at a staging area for the task force.

Memphis has experienced high numbers of violent crimes such as carjackings and homicides in recent years, but both Democratic and Republican officials have noted decreases this year in some crime categories.

Opponents of the deployment say it is an unnecessary federal occupation of a majority-Black city that instead needs more funding to address poverty and other drivers of crime. Supporters see it as a welcome infusion of law enforcement for a city that still needs help battling violence.

AP video by Adrian Sainz