President Donald Trump argued Wednesday that a federal law enforcement presence in New Orleans could solve the city’s crime problems in less than two weeks.
Speaking from the Oval Office, Trump told reporters his administration was determining which city would be best to replicate the crime-fighting efforts it deployed in the District of Columbia. He’s threatened that Chicago is next, and in the past he has sent troops to Los Angeles.
“So we’re making a determination now: Do we go to Chicago, or do we go to a place like New Orleans, where we have a great governor, Jeff Landry, who wants us to come in and straighten out a very nice section of this country that has become quite tough, quite bad,” Trump said. “We will straighten that out in two weeks. It’ll take us two weeks, easier than D.C.”
Landry’s office did not immediately respond to NOTUS’ request for comment Wednesday, but he previously expressed support for the Trump administration’s focus on D.C. crime. He was among the Republican governors to send National Guard troops to the District of Columbia in August.
New Orleans had the second-highest homicide rate in the country in 2024, according to data compiled by the Center for Public Safety Initiatives at the Rochester Institute of Technology.
The New Orleans’ Mayor’s Office referred NOTUS back to a statement released Wednesday afternoon that acknowledges the city’s cooperation with federal law enforcement, but does not directly address the president’s latest remarks.
“The City of New Orleans and the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) thank the federal government for their support, including the SEAR 1 grant for special events,” reads the statement. “We have consistently worked with our federal partners, including collaborations with the Louisiana State Police. This collaborative approach has been instrumental in our ongoing success in reducing crime.”
“Our federal and state partnerships have played a significant role in ensuring public safety, particularly during special events for a world-class city,” the statement continues. “The City of New Orleans and NOPD remain committed to sustaining this momentum, ensuring that every neighborhood continues to feel the impact of these combined efforts.”
In a statement to NOTUS in August, Cantrell’s office highlighted that New Orleans’ homicide rate was declining.
“The City of New Orleans through the successful work of the dedicated women and men of the New Orleans Police Department continues to have major reductions in crime using constitutional policing practices,” Cantrell’s office said then. “These successful crime reduction numbers for the city [have] been reported by FBI Data reports and other crime reporting organizations.”
Trump on Wednesday also touted the National Guard presence in Los Angeles earlier this year, when he sent in troops to quell protests against federal immigration enforcement. This week a federal judge ruled that the Trump administration willfully broke the law by sending in troops without approval from state officials.
“If we didn’t go into Los Angeles with our soldiers, with our National Guard, you wouldn’t even be having the Olympics there,” Trump said, referring to the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. “We saved Los Angeles, and we saved the Olympics.”
In a statement to NOTUS after the president’s briefing, Rep. Troy Carter, a Democrat who represents New Orleans, said, “Militarizing the streets of New Orleans is not a solution. Period.”
“We will always welcome true collaboration from our federal partners — but never at the expense of our Home Rule Charter or the democratic principles we swore to uphold,” Carter said. “If the President wants to provide federal resources to the City, I will work with him to provide funding to recruit and better train police officers, better fund our district attorney, fix the infrastructure at Orleans Parish Prison and fund the very programs he has cut that get at the root cause of crime: systemic poverty. New Orleans needs resources, not a political stunt.”
On the other hand, Republican Rep. Clay Higgins, whose district borders New Orleans, told NOTUS he would be in full support of federal troops in the state.
“Not only would I welcome American Soldiers to the streets of New Orleans, I’d deploy with them as a former MP [military police] and current POST [Peace Officers Standard Training] certified police officer,” Higgins said in a statement.
Sen. Bill Cassidy told NOTUS “The National Guard in Washington, D.C. demonstrated that more uniforms on the street, whatever the color of the uniform is, makes our community safer.”
“It is not a long-term solution, but this gives us a chance to demonstrate that it is just as true in Louisiana as it is in Washington, D.C,” Cassidy said in a statement.
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This story was produced as part of a partnership between NOTUS and Verite News.