--- title: Trump Floats Sending National Guard to New Orleans description: He said New Orleans “has a crime problem” and that his Administration could “straighten that out in about two weeks." canonical: https://time.com/7314321/trump-national-guard-new-orleans/ author: Chantelle Lee article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2025-09-03T19:10:55.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-11T00:12:28.930Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump Floats Sending National Guard to New Orleans og:description: He said New Orleans “has a crime problem” and that his Administration could “straighten that out in about two weeks." og:url: https://time.com/7314321/trump-national-guard-new-orleans/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3102d29303effc10/6998c9821500fb12c0aa6910/trump-national-guard-new-orleans.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Trump og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Floats Sending National Guard to New Orleans twitter:description: He said New Orleans “has a crime problem” and that his Administration could “straighten that out in about two weeks." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3102d29303effc10/6998c9821500fb12c0aa6910/trump-national-guard-new-orleans.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Trump Floats Sending National Guard to New Orleans by [Chantelle Lee](https://time.com/author/chantelle-lee/) ## Chantelle Lee Reporter Sep 3, 2025 7:10 PM UTC  President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Polish President Karol Nawrocki in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2025. President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Polish President Karol Nawrocki in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2025.Evan Vucci—AP Photo by [Chantelle Lee](https://time.com/author/chantelle-lee/) ## Chantelle Lee Reporter Sep 3, 2025 7:10 PM UTC President Donald Trump on Wednesday touted his [takeover](https://time.com/7311513/trump-washington-dc-immigration-school-national-guard/) of Washington, D.C., as a success and floated the idea of launching a similar crackdown on crime in New Orleans. Speaking to reporters from the Oval Office, Trump cast D.C. as a crime-ridden city up until he [declared](https://time.com/7308788/trump-washington-dc-national-guard/) a public safety emergency in the nation’s capital and federalized the city’s police force three weeks ago. “Now it’s considered a totally safe zone,” he said. City data showed that violent crime in D.C. was [already falling](https://time.com/7308580/trump-dc-violent-crime/) significantly before the Administration’s operation, but does indicate a further [decline in crime](https://crimecards.dc.gov/all:crimes/all:weapons/dated::08112025:09032025/citywide:heat) during the takeover. Taking credit for the recent drop, Trump suggested sending National Guard troops to other major cities, too. “I could do that with Chicago. We could do that with New York. We could do it with Los Angeles,” Trump said. “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.” He said New Orleans “has a crime problem” and that his Administration could “straighten that out in about two weeks,” adding that it would be “easier than D.C.” New Orleans was considered the “murder capital” of the U.S. in 2022\. But the city—like D.C., Chicago, and many others across the country—has experienced a [decline](https://www.nola.com/news/crime%5Fpolice/new-orleans-crime-murder-rate-2025-public-safety/article%5F7220cd15-8bd4-46bf-9f4d-e4dcc5baafb2.html) in violent crime in recent years. Trump has previously [indicated](https://time.com/7309031/democrats-respond-trump-washington-dc-takeover-national-guard-baltimore-chicago-los-angeles-new-york-oakland/) that he would tackle crime in other cities beyond D.C., including Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Baltimore, and Oakland—all in Democratic-run states. Louisiana, however, is led by a Republican governor and the GOP controls both chambers of its state legislature. Gov. Jeff Landry, who the President praised on Wednesday, was [endorsed](https://jefflandry.com/president-donald-trump-endorses-jeff-landry-for-governor/) by Trump during the 2023 gubernatorial race. After Trump launched his takeover of D.C. last month, Landry was among several Republican governors who [deployed](https://x.com/LAGovJeffLandry/status/1957872510088933610) National Guard troops to the city to aid in the operation. The President’s remarks come as tensions rise between him and local leaders in Illinois. Trump [said](https://time.com/7311770/chicago-trump-crime-stats/) a couple weeks ago that Chicago would likely be the “next” city his Administration turns to in its efforts to crack down on crime. Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson—both Democrats—have rejected the idea of federal intervention. Over the weekend, Johnson [ordered](https://time.com/7313566/chicago-johnson-national-guard-trump-ice/) city departments not to cooperate if Trump deploys the National Guard to Chicago. But on Tuesday, Trump [dismissed](https://time.com/7314045/trump-announcement-chicago-baltimore-national-guard/) local leaders’ objections: “We’re going to do it anyway,” he told reporters in the Oval Office. He continued to slam local officials on Wednesday, calling Pritzker an “incompetent governor.” He went on to criticize California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat and vocal Trump critic. The President claimed that he “saved” L.A. after [sending](https://time.com/7291978/los-angeles-immigration-protests-trump-national-guard-deployed-newsom-backlash/) in the National Guard earlier this summer, bypassing Newsom. The move sparked widespread outrage among state leaders and the public, and has drawn pushback from the courts. On Tuesday, a judge [ruled](https://time.com/7313929/trump-national-guard-la-los-angeles-marines-judge-ruling/) that the Trump Administration’s deployment of troops to L.A. violated a longstanding federal law. Still, Trump painted the operation as a success, even claiming that the 2028 Summer Olympics wouldn’t be held in L.A. as planned if he hadn’t stepped in. “If we didn’t go into Los Angeles with our soldiers, with our National Guard, you wouldn’t even be having the Olympics there,” he said. “We saved Los Angeles and we saved the Olympics.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/7314321/trump-national-guard-new-orleans/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/7314321/trump-national-guard-new-orleans/"},"headline":"Trump Floats Sending National Guard to New Orleans","datePublished":"2025-09-03T19:10:55.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-11T00:12:28.930Z","description":"He said New Orleans “has a crime problem” and that his Administration could “straighten that out in about two weeks.\"","url":"https://time.com/7314321/trump-national-guard-new-orleans/","keywords":["Donald Trump","News Desk"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3102d29303effc10/6998c9821500fb12c0aa6910/trump-national-guard-new-orleans.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Chantelle Lee","jobTitle":"Reporter","url":"https://time.com/author/chantelle-lee/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3102d29303effc10/6998c9821500fb12c0aa6910/trump-national-guard-new-orleans.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Trump","caption":"Trump","creditText":"Evan Vucci—AP Photo","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/7314321/trump-national-guard-new-orleans/","name":"Trump Floats Sending National Guard to New Orleans"}}]}] ```