By AAMER MADHANI
The Trump administration is deploying 350 Nationwide Guard troops to New Orleans forward of the New Yr, launching one other federal deployment within the metropolis on the identical time that an immigration crackdown led by Border Patrol is underway.
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell stated Tuesday that Guard members, as they’ve in different deployments in giant cities, shall be tasked with supporting federal legislation enforcement companions, together with the Division of Justice and the Division of Homeland Safety. Parnell added that the Nationwide Guard troops shall be deployed via February.
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, a Republican, praised President Donald Trump and Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth for coordinating the deployment and predicted the Guard’s presence would have a optimistic impression.
“It’s going to assist us additional crack down on the violence right here within the metropolis of New Orleans and elsewhere round Louisiana,” Landry stated in an look on the Fox Information’ “The Will Cain Present.” “And so an enormous shoutout to each of them.”
Critics have argued a Nationwide Guard deployment is unwarranted and will trigger worry locally, they usually level out that New Orleans has really seen a lower in violent crime charges.
The deployment of the Nationwide Guard to the Democrat-led metropolis comes as Border Patrol brokers have been finishing up an immigration crackdown because the starting of the month. In line with the Division of Homeland Safety, brokers have arrested a number of hundred folks throughout the first couple weeks of what’s anticipated to be a months-long operation that has a objective of 5,000 arrests.
Again in September, Landry requested Trump to ship a 1,000 federally funded troops to Louisiana cities, citing considerations about crime. Landry has praised Trump for sending troops to different cities, together with Washington and Memphis, Tennessee.
The president has additionally taken a shine to Landry. Trump on Sunday introduced he was appointing the governor to function his particular envoy to Greenland, the strategic, huge, semi-autonomous territory of Denmark that Trump has stated the U.S. must take over.
New Orleans has been on tempo for a lot of the 12 months to have its lowest variety of murders in a long time, in keeping with preliminary information from the town’s police division. There have been 97 homicides in 2025 as of Nov. 1, together with 14 revelers who had been killed on New Yr’s Day throughout a truck assault on Bourbon Avenue.
A U.S. Military veteran driving a pickup truck that bore the flag of the Islamic State group wrought carnage on New Orleans’ raucous New Yr’s celebration as he steered round a police blockade and slammed into revelers earlier than being shot useless by police.
There have been 124 homicides final 12 months and 193 in 2023, in keeping with metropolis figures. Armed robberies, aggravated assaults, carjackings, shootings and property crimes have additionally trended downward.
New Orleans is not any stranger to having Nationwide Guard members within the metropolis. In January, 100 Guard members had been despatched to the town to assist with safety measures following the New Yr’s Day truck assault. Guard members had been additionally current for main occasions within the metropolis this 12 months, together with the Tremendous Bowl and Mardi Gras.
Related Press reporter Sara Cline in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, contributed to this report.
