The Daily Populous Wednesday October 1st, 2025 morning edition
Authored by theguardian.com and submitted by OntologicalNightmare

The Donald Trump-supporting Republican governor of Louisiana has asked for national guard troops to be deployed to New Orleans and other cities through fiscal year 2026, saying Monday that the state needs help fighting crime and praising the president’s decision to send the military to Washington DC and Memphis.

Governor Jeff Landry asked for the Trump administration to support an extended deployment of 1,000 troops in a letter sent to the Pentagon’s top official, Pete Hegseth. It comes weeks after Trump suggested New Orleans could be one of his next targets for deploying the national guard to fight crime.

Preliminary data from the New Orleans police department shows that there had been 75 homicides so far in 2025 – including 14 who were killed on New Year’s Day when a terrorist aimed a truck attack on Bourbon Street. There were 124 homicides in 2024. In 2023, there were 193.

New Orleans-based crime trends analyst Jeff Asher, the co-founder of AH Datalyst, wrote on the Bluesky social media platform that the city has had its fewest murders since 1970. “Carjackings are down 80% relative to 2022, vehicle burglaries are down 70%, shootings are down 63%,” Asher also wrote, adding in part: “This is a wholly unnecessary stunt.”

Washington and Memphis similarly had reported steep crime reductions when Trump nonetheless sent troops into those cities in the name of crimefighting.

Many New Orleans residents recall how the national guard was sent into their city in 2006 in the name of crime control. That happened on the orders of the Democratic Louisiana governor at the time, the late Kathleen Blanco, in the wake of an infamous quintuple murder – victimizing five teenagers – as New Orleans slogged through rebuilding from the deadly federal levee failures which devastated it during Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Trump also sent troops in recent months to Los Angeles and his administration has announced plans for similar actions in other major US cities. That includes Portland, Oregon, and Chicago, where the president’s administration has been carrying out aggressive immigration enforcement actions amid its ambitions for mass deportations.

Leaders in Democratic-controlled states have criticized Trump’s planned deployments. In Oregon, elected officials have said troops in Portland are not needed. With respect to Chicago, Illinois governor JB Pritzker – a Democrat – has said: “None of what Trump is doing is making [the state] safer.”

Landry’s request, in contrast, maintained there were “elevated violent crime rates” as well as local law enforcement shortages in Shreveport and Baton Rouge beside New Orleans.

Similar to New Orleans, Baton Rouge – Louisiana’s capital – has actually seen a decrease in homicides compared to last year, according to police department figures. But robberies and assaults were on pace to surpass 2024 figures in those categories.

The mayors of Shreveport and Baton Rouge are Republican – New Orleans’s is a Democrat. All three cities have majority Black populations, according to demographic data.

Landry also cited Louisiana’s vulnerability to natural disasters and a need for extra support for major events, including Mardi Gras and college football bowl games in New Orleans in particular.

TJ_learns_stuff on September 30th, 2025 at 20:25 UTC »

Former military guy here … let me tell you, this costs ALOT of money. Moving troops of any type is a logistical hurdle; and it isn’t at all cheap. The request is for 1000 guardsman, that’s activating personnel who now receive full pay, benefits, and entitlements, who otherwise don’t receive them on a daily basis. (They only receive all of that while on orders)

Also, these guardsman aren’t going to be sleeping in tents and dining in mess halls. What does that mean for a tax payer: 1,000 troops x ($160 per day in lodging + $86 per day M&IE) = $240,000 tax payer dollars, per day. Again, this is just per diem … that doesn’t include:

Cost of fuel for vehicles (government or leased) Cost of rental cars (believe me, we rent them en masse when we go somewhere) Cost of wear and tear on government resources Cost of logistics (parts, supplies, resources) Costs for training … plus, additional costs people don’t think of when placing guardsmen on active duty; increased healthcare costs, dental, depending on time away from home, family separation allowance, etc.

For a party who claims to care about government spending, this is fraud, waste and abuse of the greatest magnitude.

bbb26782 on September 30th, 2025 at 20:08 UTC »

Couldn’t he just do that?

Tomahawk72 on September 30th, 2025 at 20:08 UTC »

Cant the dumbass order them too?