Landry supports Trump’s push to send National Guard to Louisiana’s ‘war zones’ • Louisiana Illuminator

Echoing Trump, Landry framed the idea as a way to curb violent crime in cities, saying the troops can be used as a “force multiplier” to support local police.

“I think the president recognizes that our cities in America are way too violent,” Landry said. “People say, ‘Oh, this is a militarization of our big cities.’ Our cities are already war zones. Too many people are already dying.”

The governor’s comments came at a news conference Tuesday that detailed new state economic development efforts, which Landry said was another reason to curb crime in Louisiana.

“You can’t have economic opportunity in the face of violence,” he said. “I applaud what the president’s doing. I think what he did in Washington, D.C., is remarkable.”

Trump used his federal authority to bring National Guard troops from around the country to the nation’s capital, despite opposition from Democrat D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser. The forces on the ground include 135 military police from the Louisiana National Guard.

The president also supported mobilizing Guard soldiers to Memphis, Tennessee, which also has a Democrat mayor, at the request of Republican Gov. Bill Lee.

Trump also ordered 700 Marines and more than 4,000 Guard soldiers into downtown Los Angeles to assist federal immigration enforcement against the wishes of Mayor Karen Bass and California Gov. Gavin Newsom, both Democrats who have been highly critical of the president.

Chicago, Baltimore and St. Louis are other Democrat-led cities Trump has mentioned as possibilities for military deployments.

For weeks, Trump has also mentioned New Orleans as a destination for military troops, and speculation intensified over the weekend after the Washington Post published leaked Pentagon plans to send 1,000 National Guard members to Louisiana. One of the documents, a memo from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, suggests the plan would only move forward if the governor first asked Trump to send the troops. The Guard would be sent to “urban centers” such as New Orleans and Baton Rouge to assist with law enforcement operations, according to the report.

Crime rates are already at a 30-year low in Washington D.C. and a 25-year low in Memphis, according to federal crime data.

The same has been true for New Orleans, which has seen violent crime plunging over the past few years. Data the FBI has compiled show violent crime rates in New Orleans have fallen significantly over the past several years, reversing what was an upward trend that began around 2010. The federal database includes homicide, rape, robbery and aggravated assault in its violent crime category.

Recent local data reveal a similarly significant decrease in New Orleans following a nationwide violent crime spike in 2022.

Landry already implemented an alternative to deploying the military in New Orleans by establishing a state police presence there last year. Troop NOLA is a detachment of roughly 40 Louisiana State Police troopers who supplement New Orleans Police efforts with additional patrols in the French Quarter and other neighborhoods.

The latest proposal from the governor and president differs from the Guard’s time in New Orleans earlier this year, said retired U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Russel Honoré, who’s best known for taking over the military response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

The federal government designated the Super Bowl and Mardi Gras as top-level security events, while the proposed deployment would be for routine law enforcement, Honoré said.

“It’s not a normal mission for the guard to do crime fighting,” the general said. “But they have provided security before.”

Troops would not likely be used in any sort of investigatory roles, Honoré said. They could detain people until law enforcement arrives, but their primary use would be as a visible crime deterrent, he added.

Honoré said using Guard troops to detain or arrest people would likely require them to be armed, and he believes the ideal soldiers for that role would be the Louisiana National Guard’s military police batallion, which the governor sent to D.C. last month Honoré said.

The use of National Guard troops to achieve political purposes, such as Trump’s immigration crackdown, crosses a line, the general said.

“That’s the mission I’m most uncomfortable with,” Honoré said. “I’m concerned about the immigrant community and what’s gonna happen to our essential workers.”

The Louisiana National Guard did not respond to a request for comment for this report.

Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser, who oversees tourism promotion for Louisiana, said he’s been fighting for years to bring crime down in tourist areas such as the French Quarter. Speaking on the phone from a promotional tour in Montreal, Canada, Nungesser said Landry’s establishment of Troop NOLA has been beneficial to tourism and questioned whether the military would be necessary.

“As far as whether it’s actually needed to fight crime, I don’t really have a strong feeling about it one way or the other,” he said.

Nungesser said a better solution would be for the president to send more money to the state to fund law enforcement agencies here.

“I think a grant from the president could do a lot more long term instead of just sending some troops down temporarily,” he said.