New Orleans is preparing for New Year’s with a heavy security presence that includes a Louisiana National Guard deployment set to start Tuesday, officials said Monday. The deployment follows a deadly attack on Bourbon Street on Jan. 1 a year earlier, when a vehicle-ramming attack killed 14 people, according to the account described by Associated Press.
Reese Harper, a New Orleans police spokesperson, said the use of Guard troops in the city is not new. “It’s no different than what we’ve seen in the past,” Harper said, describing the Guard’s role as part of the same kind of security posture officials have used during other major events in New Orleans.
The National Guard deployment is tied to an authorization by President Donald Trump, who had previously said troops would soon head to New Orleans. AP reported that the deployment follows high-profile Guard missions the Trump administration launched in other cities in 2025, including Washington and Memphis, Tennessee, while noting that New Orleans has previously seen troops help bolster security for events such as the Super Bowl and Mardi Gras.
Harper said the Guard’s mission is focused on visibility and keeping the public safe, rather than federal immigration enforcement. “This is for visibility and just really to keep our citizens safe,” Harper said. He added that it would act as “just another tool in the toolbox and another layer of security,” and Harper stressed that the Guard would not be engaging in immigration enforcement.
He said the deployment is expected to be confined to the French Quarter, an area popular with tourists, and that Guardsmen would not assist with immigration enforcement. Harper also said guardsmen would operate similarly to earlier this year, when they patrolled the area around Bourbon Street following the Jan. 1 vehicle-ramming attack.
Louisiana National Guard spokesperson Lt. Col. Noel Collins said in a written statement that the Guard will support law enforcement across levels. Collins’s statement said the Guard would support local, state, and federal law enforcement “to enhance capabilities, stabilize the environment, assist in reducing crime, and restoring public trust.”
The Guard’s presence is scheduled to run through Carnival season, which AP said will include costumed celebrations and massive parades before ending with Mardi Gras in mid-February. In addition to the Guard, city officials said that more than 800 local, state and federal law enforcement officials would be deployed in New Orleans, including plans to close off Bourbon Street to vehicular traffic, patrol the area, conduct bag searches and redirect traffic during the holiday period.
The security plans also come amid another federal activity in New Orleans. AP said that since the start of the month, federal agents have been carrying out an immigration crackdown that has led to the arrest of at least several hundred people, while Harper stressed the National Guard would remain separate from that effort.
The expanded law enforcement presence has drawn mixed reactions among Democrats, with Mayor LaToya Cantrell saying she is “welcoming of those added resources.” Earlier, in September, Gov. Jeff Landry asked Trump to send 1,000 troops to Louisiana cities, citing concerns about crime; Democrats pushed back in New Orleans, AP said, arguing the deployment was unwarranted and pointing to violent crime falling in recent years.
In January 2025, AP said, Shamsud-Din Jabbar drove around a police blockade in the early hours of Jan. 1 before racing down Bourbon Street and plowing into people celebrating New Year’s Day. The attacker, described as a U.S. citizen and Army veteran who had proclaimed support for the Islamic State militant group on social media, was fatally shot by police after crashing, and law enforcement later found multiple bombs in coolers placed around the French Quarter, which AP said did not detonate.