Democratic city officers in New Orleans are clashing with Republican state leaders over President Donald Trump’s risk of sending in the army to patrol streets and help native enforcement in the Big Easy.
Trump suggested Wednesday he might redirect National Guard members to New Orleans subsequent, as an alternative of Chicago where he has lately been threatening to surge troops – even whereas it’s nonetheless not clear troops will present up.
“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’s become quite tough, quite bad,” Trump advised reporters. “So we’re gonna be going to maybe Louisiana, and you have New Orleans, which has a crime problem.”
The attainable deployment comes as the Trump administration more and more targets Democrat-led cities throughout the nation as a part of a crime combating effort that’s typically paired with ramped up immigration enforcement. These often-unwanted actions have been rife with controversy, sparking lawsuits and costing taxpayers tens of millions of {dollars}.
The White House has not but responded to NCS’s request for extra particulars on the attainable deployment of guard members to New Orleans.
The City of New Orleans and the New Orleans Police Department touted their downward crime traits and present strategy with federal companions, calling it “instrumental” in the city’s “ongoing success in reducing crime.”
“The City of New Orleans and the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) continue to observe a significant reduction in crime,” the assertion says, and up to date knowledge seems to corroborate that assertion.
Violent crimes are trending downward in New Orleans over the previous yr with homicides down about 27%, a 15% lower in reported rapes and a 16.5% drop in robberies, according to data from the Major Cities Chiefs Association, a national group of police chiefs.
New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell, a Democrat who was indicted final month over allegations of making an attempt to hide her relationship with her bodyguard, didn’t instantly flip down Trump’s proposal or remark instantly past the city’s assertion.
Cantrell, who’s slated to go away workplace in simply months due to time period limits, joins two different Black feminine mayors who’ve discovered their city in Trump’s crosshairs.
Both Los Angeles and Washington, DC, every led by a Black lady, have seen National Guard troops deployed in their cities. In truth, Louisiana’s governor despatched the state’s personal guard members to Washington, DC final month whilst two of its personal cities – Shreveport and Lafayette – have violent crime rates higher than Washington, DC’s.
New Orleans City council member and mayoral candidate Helena Moreno, additionally a Democrat, vowed to struggle a federal takeover and referred to as Trump’s plans “an attack on certain cities.”
“There are many cities with mayors aligned with this President whose crime issues are severe, but they’re not targeted. That clearly shows that this is about scare tactics and politicizing public safety,” Moreno stated.
While New Orleans politics lean closely Democratic, Louisiana is general a Republican stronghold, together with its governor, each US Senate seats and four of the six seats in the US House of Representatives. Republicans additionally maintain a majority in each the Louisiana Senate and House.
Republican leaders throughout the state have endorsed the concept of army involvement coming to Louisiana, particularly to New Orleans where 14 folks have been killed in a terror attack when a driver rammed a pickup truck into a crowd throughout New Year’s celebrations on Bourbon Street, the well-known celebration space in the city’s historic French Quarter.
While different Democratic governors have rejected Trump sending National Guard troops to their states, Louisiana’s governor is embracing the concept.
“We will take President Donald Trump’s help from New Orleans to Shreveport,” Landry, the conservative ally of the president stated Wednesday in a social media put up.
Gov. Landry has not instantly responded to extra questions from NCS however spoke about a attainable federal crackdown in New Orleans throughout a Wednesday information convention at the opening of “Louisiana Lockdown,” a new immigration detention facility at a notorious state prison.
“President Trump is focused on getting control of our cities but not doing it the way past presidents and other administrations have done, where it’s temporary. What he wants to see is permanent safety for Americans,” Landry defined.
Landry launched his personal crime crackdown final yr sending state police to set up a presence in New Orleans.
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill additionally took goal at native Democrats in assist of Trump’s plan to deploy army to New Orleans.
“Whether it’s the January 1 terror attack, the Orleans Parish Jail escape, no one monitoring ankle monitors, or countless other failures – People continue to die in New Orleans because ‘leaders’ refuse to accept the resources that are available to them. If your gut reaction is to reject the President’s offer for assistance without condition, perhaps you’re the problem – not him,” Murrill stated in a assertion Wednesday.
Some native leaders recommend sending in troops is probably not wanted and it’s extra of a political transfer.
“To have a militaristic environment where tourists come to the city to enjoy the ambience, the culture, the food and the people, sends the wrong message,” Marlon Defillo, a former assistant superintendent with the New Orleans Police Department, advised NCS.
Defillo stated native regulation enforcement is doing a “tremendous job” combating crime, noting that federal companions have already got labored carefully with native enforcement this yr for large occasions like Super Bowl LIX and Mardis Gras. He doesn’t see a present want to deliver in any assist.
“Certainly, I don’t think this city has reached that level where we have to have the military position in this city,” Defillo stated, including the concept of bringing federal assets in to patrol is “political in nature.”
City leaders in New Orleans go a step additional to tout this as nothing however a “political stunt.”
“Sending troops into Black and Brown cities is not a solution,” New Orleans Councilmember Lesli Harris responded, suggesting “if the federal government truly wants to help, it should invest in our city’s ongoing programs.”
Louisiana Rep. Troy A. Carter, a Democrat, believes the city has the autonomy to govern itself and is open to difficult any attainable troop deployment in court docket.
“Militarizing the streets of New Orleans is not a solution. Period,” Carter responded to Trump’s risk.
“I’m grateful to Gov. Landry who has had state troopers on the ground working in conjunction, collaboratively with the New Orleans Police Department. But to have a military zone created in the middle of the city of New Orleans is not necessary and I think it’s actually politically motivated,” Carter advised NCS’s Erica Hill on Thursday.
Instead, the congressman recommended extra funding for the city’s district lawyer, improved infrastructure at the Orleans Parish Prison and funding applications to assist the root explanation for crime and poverty.
The Peacekeeper Global Initiative, a national grassroots group, echoes the sentiment that bringing in national troops wouldn’t remedy points for locals.
Bringing in troops to curb crime with out offering providers for folks residing in poverty or creating extra jobs wouldn’t remedy crime points, Dennis Muhammad, the group’s founder, tells NCS.
He believes the troops would simply be in the city to pursue immigrants and worries that the points impacting violent crime in the city gained’t be met.
NCS’s Ryan Young, Andy Rose, Chris Youd, Taylor Romine and Cynthia Salinas Cappellano contributed to this report