Trump announces he will send National Guard to New Orleans to help with crime

President Donald Trump announced Friday night that he would be sending National Guard troops to New Orleans and pledged the city would be "safe" within two weeks.

The announcement follows Trump mobilized the Guard in Washington, D.C., last month to help reduce the district's crime. Trump first floated sending troops to New Orleans on Wednesday after Louisiana's Republican Gov. Jeff Landry asked the president for help, The Hill reported.

Trump did not state exactly when the troops would be sent to the southern city but confirmed plans to federalize its law enforcement in a similar manner to his administration's take over of Washington's Metropolitan Police Department.

“We’re going to come into New Orleans, and we’re going to make that place so safe,” Trump said during an event in the White House’s newly renovated Rose Garden. “It’s got a little problem right now, a couple of headaches, like murders, a lot of little murders going on, and we’re not going to stand for it. And we’re going to come in, we’re going to clean it up.”

Trump previously indicated he would send troops to Chicago next, but the state's Democratic governor and the city's Democratic mayor have both protested federal involvement. 

The president said he is going to make New Orleans the "safest place" and then send troops to other cities with crime problems. Trump has threatened to send troops to Baltimore if Maryland's governor is not able to reduce crime. 

“[New Orleans'] going to be the safest place, just like this is the safest place,” Trump said. “And then we’ll be going elsewhere throughout the country, we’re going to bring crime down, because we can’t have cities that are unsafe.”

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.