DC national guard troops have orders extended
National Guard troops deployment in D.C. could reportedly last through December – beyond the initial 30 days that was expected to end September 10th. FOX 5 DC’s Melanie Alnwick joins LiveNOW from FOX to share what this entails.
President Donald Trump said he’s considering deploying National Guard troops to New Orleans to fight crime as he expands the number of Democrat-run cities where he may send law enforcement.
Trump made the suggestion Wednesday, two days after he said he plans to send troops into Chicago and Baltimore. His administration has already deployed troops and federal agents to Washington, D.C., but Washington is a federal district that gives Trump power to take over the local police force for up to 30 days. Using troops in cities not under federal jurisdiction would be a big escalation.
Will Trump send troops to New Orleans?
What they’re saying:
“So we’re making a determination now,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office Wednesday. “Do we go to Chicago? 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, you know, quite tough, quite bad.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to the media in the Oval Office at the White House on September 2, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
“So we’re going to be going to maybe Louisiana, and you have New Orleans, which has a crime problem. We’ll straighten that out in about two weeks,” Trump said. “It’ll take us two weeks, easier than D.C.”
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Landry and other Republican politicians in Louisiana support the move, but New Orleans lawmakers were quick to call the notion “ridiculous.” New Orleans is reporting historically low crime rates, with homicides down 35% in 2024. The first half of 2025 showed an even bigger drop, according to Nola.com.
The other side:
“Guardsmen are not trained law enforcement. They can’t solve crimes, they can’t interview witnesses and they aren’t trained to constitutionally police,” Councilman JP Morrell said in a statement. “NOPD is doing a great job with the existing resources they have. Marching troops into New Orleans is an unnecessary show of force in effort to create a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist.”
The City of New Orleans struck a more conciliatory tone, staying in a statement, “our federal and state partnerships have played a significant role in ensuring public safety, particularly during special events” and that local officials “remain committed to sustaining this momentum.” New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell was indicted last month on federal fraud charges and is set to be arraigned in the coming weeks.
RELATED: New Orleans Mayor Latoya Cantrell indicted on corruption charges
Dig deeper:
Unlike Washington, Chicago and Baltimore, New Orleans is a predominately Democratic-leaning city in a red state run by Landry, a Republican — and reflection of Trump floating federal intervention along ideological lines.
Will Trump send troops to Chicago and Baltimore?
The backstory:
Trump’s latest comments came a day after he declared “We’re going in” and suggested that the National Guard might soon be headed for Chicago, the nation’s third-largest city, and Baltimore. That’s despite state and local officials, as well as many residents, both places staunchly opposing the idea.
RELATED: Trump considers declaring ‘housing emergency’: What that would mean
Trump, meanwhile, has repeatedly railed against Democratic Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker for not requesting that the National Guard be deployed.
“We could straighten out Chicago. All they have to do is ask us to go into Chicago. If we don’t have the support of some of these politicians, but I’ll tell you who is supporting us, the people of Chicago,” Trump said Wednesday.
Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson have been adamant in saying Chicago doesn’t need or want military intervention. In Baltimore, Mayor Brandon Scott and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore have remained similarly opposed.
Trump calls DC a ‘safe zone’
Big picture view:
The White House reports more than 1,760 arrests in Washington since the president first announced he was mobilizing federal forces on Aug. 7.
Trump now frequently boasts about turning Washington into a “safe zone.”
DC Mayor Muriel Bowser has said federal troops have succeeded in reducing violent crime — but she also says similar results could have been achieved simply by having more city police officers in service.
What’s next:
A National Guard official told the Associated Press that troops in Washington have had their deployment orders extended through December. Bowser said the city doesn’t need it.
“We don’t need a presidential emergency,” she said.
The Source: This report includes information from The Associated Press, Nola.com and previous LiveNow from FOX reporting.