On this week’s WKNO/Channel 10’s "Behind the Headlines," Eric Barnes leads a roundtable discussion with journalists about several major issues affecting Memphis and Shelby County, including early childhood education, immigration enforcement, and local politics.
The discussion began with concerns about delays in county funding for universal pre-K, a program long promoted by local leaders as an investment in early childhood education. The Daily Memphian's Bill Dries explained that county funding approved for the program has not yet been released, creating uncertainty for providers that rely on consistent payments to operate. Providers warn that prolonged delays could threaten classrooms and services. “This is a moving program,” Dries said, referring to concerns raised by First 8. “If you hold up funding, then you, in effect, endanger the program as it is.”
Daily Memphian reporter Samuel Hardiman noted that while county officials describe the issue as a budgetary and administrative matter, the consequences are immediate. “There are pre-K seats at risk here,” he said. “It’s not an up for debate.”
The panel also discussed Memphis-Shelby County Schools, including uncertainty surrounding district leadership as state lawmakers revive legislation that could lead to a state takeover, raising questions about the future role of the superintendent and the school board.
Immigration enforcement was another major focus, with Hardiman outlining findings from recent reporting on the Memphis Safe Task Force. By reviewing daily activity reports, he said a pattern emerged in which traffic stops led to immigration-related arrests. “What we know,” Hardiman said, “is that there was a pattern of behavior of people who are Hispanic, who appeared to be Hispanic, getting pulled over in a traffic stop for some sort of motor violation … then somehow they were found to be undocumented, and they were arrested for being unlawfully present in the United States.”
Bill Dries said the reality of immigration enforcement in Memphis has diverged from earlier assurances that serious offenders would be targeted. “The pledge or the outline of what would happen with immigration here is that these would be people who would be, quote, unquote, the worst of the worst in the country illegally, wanted for major crimes, for felonies,” Dries said. “And that’s not what this has turned out to be in Memphis. It’s turned out to be traffic stops on technicalities that are leading to some serious action against these individuals who are taken immediately out of the city, away from their family. Where they’re taken, it’s not clear, at least in the beginning, if ever. And it’s raised some real questions about due process.”
Kailynn Johnson of the Memphis Flyer added that advocates remain concerned about what happens after those arrests. “There’s not enough data after what happens with these arrests to basically tout how effective that task force is,” she said.
The roundtable also discussed the upcoming local election season and examined issues surrounding xAI’s data center operations in Memphis, including power generation, environmental oversight, and neighborhood impacts. The panel noted that these topics are likely to remain part of ongoing local policy discussions.