The six-month extension comes after 350 Guard members deployed to New Orleans in late December, in the run-up to New Year's and other high-profile events like the Sugar Bowl. The troops, which had mainly clustered in the city's historic French Quarter, had been scheduled to depart in the aftermath of Mardi Gras.
New Orleans is one of several Democrat-run cities, such as Washington and Memphis where the federal government deployed armed troops under the administration of President Donald Trump. Hundreds of federal agents also converged on Louisiana in December as part of a separate crackdown on violent illeal immigrants in and around New Orleans.
During his State of the Union address last week, Trump touted the deployment in New Orleans as a “big success." In January, Trump credited the troops with reducing the city's violent crime.
According to a press statement from the Louisiana National Guard, the remaining guard members will serve as a "visible presence to deter criminal activity in New Orleans.”
New Orleans Mayor Helena Moreno, a Democrat who initially opposed the deployment, said that the troops would benefit the city in the coming weeks. She pointed out that National Guard troops had assisted the city during last year's Mardi Gras in the aftermath of a vehicle-ramming attack in the French Quarter that killed 14 people on New Year's Day.
“I continue to support the partnership with the LA National Guard to assist in our major events and there are several coming up in the next few weeks,” Moreno said in a statement.
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, a Republican and staunch Trump ally, requested the deployment of the National Guard last September, citing rising violent crime rates in New Orleans
“This continued deployment will help us combat violence in New Orleans and other parts of Louisiana,” Landry wrote on the social platform X on Monday, noting Louisiana had also sent National Guard troops to Washington, D.C., last year.
