WASHINGTON — On Wednesday, President Donald Trump hinted at possibly sending federal troops to New Orleans, marking another occasion where he has threatened to employ the federal government to mitigate crime in a city governed by Democrats.
“We’re considering heading to Louisiana, particularly New Orleans, which faces crime challenges,” Trump mentioned to journalists at the Oval Office. “We’ll manage that within about two weeks. It’ll be simpler than handling D.C.”
In the previous month, Trump had mobilized thousands of National Guard troops to Washington, D.C., enhancing federal law enforcement presence, including the FBI and border patrol officers. He has consistently indicated a readiness to send National Guard troops to cities like Chicago and Baltimore as well.
Trump remarked on Wednesday that Gov. Jeff Landry, R-La., “would like us to intervene and restore order to a very pleasant region of this nation that’s unfortunately become quite difficult, quite problematic.”
In a post to X, Landry shared a clip of Trump’s comments and welcomed the move.
“We will take President @realDonaldTrump’s help from New Orleans to Shreveport!” he said.
Representatives for New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell and the New Orleans Police Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
While Trump claims that deploying the National Guard to cities aligns with his efforts to combat crime, some critics view it as an overextension of his powers.
Recently, the president threatened on Truth Social to “dispatch the ‘troops'” to Baltimore. Gov. Wes Moore, D-Md., rebuked this threat, asserting that Trump “prefers to criticize his country’s major cities from the safety of his desk rather than engaging directly with the people he is meant to serve.”
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, D-Ill., accused Trump of wanting “to use the military to occupy a U.S. city, punish his dissidents and score political points.”
Earlier this year, Trump deployed members of the National Guard and Marines to Los Angeles in response to protests against his immigration policies. The Trump administration hit a roadblock on Tuesday when a judge ruled that the White House, in doing so, violated a law that limited the ability of the military to be used for law enforcement purposes.
