During a stretch of high-profile events in New Orleans, the Louisiana National Guard announced on Monday that 120 troops will continue serving in the city through August, extending a deployment that began late in December. The troops had been scheduled to leave after Mardi Gras, but the Guard said the extension is intended to keep a visible deterrent in place as the city moves into the spring events season.
The announcement came after 350 Guard members were deployed to New Orleans in late December, in the run-up to New Year’s and other major events, including the Sugar Bowl. The Louisiana National Guard said the troops had mainly clustered in the French Quarter during that period.
In a press statement, the Louisiana National Guard said the remaining Guard members will act as a “visible presence to deter criminal activity in New Orleans.” The Guard did not specify any changes to where or how the troops would be stationed beyond describing the role they are expected to play during the extension.
The deployment has also intersected with national political messaging. During his State of the Union address last week, President Donald Trump touted the New Orleans deployment as a “big success,” and in January Trump credited the troops with helping reduce the city’s violent crime within a week of their arrival.
The news report cited city police data showing violent crime rates declining over the past three years in parallel with national trends, and also noted that the federal government deployed armed troops to other Democrat-run cities under the Trump administration. It also said hundreds of federal agents converged on Louisiana in December as part of a separate immigration crackdown in and around New Orleans.
New Orleans Mayor Helena Moreno, a Democrat who initially opposed the deployment, said the troops would benefit the city in the coming weeks. Moreno pointed to National Guard assistance during last year’s Mardi Gras, when a vehicle-ramming attack in the French Quarter killed 14 people on New Year’s Day.
“I continue to support the partnership with the LA National Guard to assist in our major events and there are several coming up in the next few weeks,” Moreno said in a statement. The report said Moreno did not name which events she referred to, though it noted that visitors typically flock to New Orleans in the spring for events such as the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.
At the state level, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, a Republican and ally of Trump, requested the deployment of National Guard troops last September. The report said Landry made the request citing rising violent crime rates in New Orleans despite the data showing crime has declined, and it also reported that Landry wrote on the social platform X that the continued deployment would help combat violence in New Orleans and other parts of Louisiana.
Landry’s spokesperson, Kate Kelly, said the federal government would cover the cost of the extended deployment. Kelly did not respond to a question about whether Guard members would be deployed outside New Orleans.
Maj. Gen. Thomas Friloux, adjutant general of the Louisiana National Guard, said in a statement that the troops had worked closely with other city, state and federal agencies to improve public safety during high-profile events in the city. Friloux said that work included the surge of visitors over Mardi Gras and the city’s broader carnival season, and he added that the Guard would continue supporting those partnerships.
Friloux said the Guard remains focused on maintaining public safety for both residents and visitors as New Orleans hosts additional spring events, even after the immediate Mardi Gras period ends.