President Donald Trump has authorized a National Guard deployment in New Orleans starting Tuesday.
This heavy security presence for New Year’s celebrations comes one year after the deadly attack on revelers on Bourbon Street saw 14 people killed. This National Guard deployment in The Big Easy follows other missions launched by the Trump administration in other cities in 2025, including Washington and Memphis. However, the fight of National Guard troops isn’t new to New Orleans, as earlier this year troops helped bolster security for the Super Bowl and Mardi Gras.
New Year’s ‘terror attack’ kills 10 people, injures 35 after killer rammed revelers on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, opened fire https://t.co/lv8mCcMomu pic.twitter.com/tTmJItuJ2X
— New York Post (@nypost) January 1, 2025
“It’s no different than what we’ve seen in the past,” New Orleans police spokesperson Reese Harper said.
As reported by Bloomberg, the National Guard isn’t the only federal law enforcement agency in NOLA, as since the start of this month, federal agents have been involved in an immigration crackdown, leading to the arrest of several hundred people. However, Harper did stress that the National Guard will not engage in immigration enforcement this time around.
“This is for visibility and just really to keep our citizens safe,” Harper said. “It’s just another tool in the toolbox and another layer of security.”
It is expected that the National Guard will confine its presence in the French Quarter area, popular with tourists, and will operate similar to earlier in 2025, when they patrolled the streets around Bourbon Street following the deadly vehicle-ramming attack on January 1.
Moreover, 350 Guard members are set to stay in New Orleans through Carnival season, when residents and tourists descend on the “Paris of the South” to enjoy costumed celebrations and colorful parades before ending with Mardi Gras in mid-February.
National Guard spokesperson Lt. Col. Noel Collins said in a written statement that the Guard will support local, state, and federal law enforcement in order to “enhance capabilities, stabilize the environment, assist in reducing crime, and restoring public trust.”
City officials said during a news conference on Monday that a total of over 800 local, state and federal law enforcement officials will be deployed in the city. They will close off Bourbon Street to vehicles, redirect traffic, conduct bag searches and patrol the area.
New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell said the additional aid for the city has received the support of some Democrats, adding that she is “welcoming of those added resources.”
This year’s law enforcement presence at New Year’s celebrations comes a year after Shamsud-Din Jabbar drove around a police blockade in the city during the early hours of January 1, before racing down Bourbon Street, plowing into people celebrating New Year’s. The attacker was a US citizen and Army veteran, who announced his support for the Islamic State on social media, and was shot dead by police after crashing his vehicle. Following an expansive search, law enforcement officers located multiple bombs place in coolers around the French Quarter, but none of them were detonated.
Immediately following the attack, 100 National Guard members were sent to the city. Meanwhile, in September, Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry requested Trump to send 1,000 groups to cities in Louisiana, citing crime concerns. However, Democrats, mostly leaders in the city, pushed back on the request, saying a deployment was unwarranted, and that the city had actually seen a dramatic decrease in violent crimes in recent years.
