Federal agents, deployed in large numbers to U.S. communities, are killing us. This week members of the National Guard killed 20 year-old Tyrin Johnson, and the Drug Enforcement Agency killed Alfonso Ivy. In a city that mourned and demanded change after the police murder of Tyre Nichols, Tyrin and Alfonso’s deaths have reopened a gaping wound.
Said NPAP Executive Director Lauren Bonds:
Public safety for all means just that — for all of us. Not just for white people, and not just for rich people. Everyone, including Black people, poor people, and immigrants.
The agents who killed Tyrin and Alfonso have two things in common — they are federal agents and part of the so-called Memphis Safe Task Force. Their deaths were preventable, and prove what we’ve been saying for years. It doesn’t matter what you call your task force, having more police in our communities doesn’t make any of us safer.
Groups like Decarcerate Memphis have organized and pressured the City of Memphis to make meaningful changes to reduce police violence. The Trump administration’s federal invasion is undoing that progress. And now, Tyrin Johnson and Alfonso Ivy’s loved ones are living a nightmare that no one should ever have to experience.
NPAP opposes the Trump administration’s massive, politically-motivated deployment of federal agencies to U.S. cities, from Memphis to Chicago to Washington, DC. In an amicus brief filed with the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia, we wrote: “While police train to maintain peace in local communities, National Guard troops train primarily for war” (District of Columbia v. Trump, No. 1:25-cv-03005).
The National Guard’s statutory training requirements include no law-enforcement functions, instead focusing on “drill and instruction, including indoor target practice” and “training at encampments, maneuvers, outdoor target practice, or other exercises” (32 U.S.C. § 502(a)). Basic training covers “fundamentals of soldiering,” including hand-to-hand combat. Local police, in contrast, are trained in U.S. criminal law, traffic enforcement, community policing, and de-escalation techniques — and even then, they often make deadly mistakes.
Lauren Bonds added:
We demand transparent and thorough investigations of each police killing, independent from any federal coverup that’s already underway. But instead of having to demand investigations into killings, we want the killings to end.
Unwanted federal agents and National Guards members need to leave local communities immediately. They are actively causing harm. Individuals should read up on their rights in the face of this federal invasion and talk about them with their children, friends, and loved ones.
If we truly want police killings to stop, the solution is not more police — it’s more people working together to improve the community we call home.
Resources:
- Read the amicus brief NPAP filed in District of Columbia v. Trump, No. 1:25-cv-03005
- Share NPAP’s Know Your Rights guide for federal law enforcement deployments