Topline
President Donald Trump on Wednesday walked back his promise to send the National Guard to Chicago for a crime crackdown and said he could instead deploy troops to New Orleans, where the state’s Republican governor is unlikely to challenge him.
President Donald Trump speaks during a bilateral meeting with Polish President Karol Nawrocki in the Oval Office at the White House on September 3, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
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Key Facts
Trump said his administration is “making a determination now do we go to Chicago or 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 tough.”
Trump predicted it would take his administration “about two weeks” to deal with New Orleans’ “crime problem.”
Landry endorsed the move in a tweet responding to Trump’s comments, saying “we will take President [Donald Trump’s] help from New Orleans to Shreveport!”
Trump made the comments after warning Tuesday afternoon he would send troops to Chicago with or without permission from Gov. J.B. Pritzker, a Democrat, who has pushed back against Trump’s threats.
Walking back the threat, Trump said Wednesday “we’re pretty much waiting until we get asked” to send troops to Democratic-led cities, including Chicago.
Trump’s plans to replicate his Washington, D.C., crime crackdown in other cities ran into a new legal hurdle Tuesday when a California-based federal judge ruled he illegally deployed federal troops to Los Angeles in June without permission from Gov. Gavin Newsom, also a Democrat.
Contra
That’s how much the murder rate in New Orleans has declined by 22% this year, according to New Orleans Police Department statistics through Aug. 30, and The Times-Picayune reported in July the city was on pace for the fewest killings in a calendar year in 50 years. Those statistics include the 14 victims killed in a terrorist attack on Bourbon Street in the early hours of New Year’s Day.
Tangent
For the second day in a row, Trump suggested Tuesday he could lift his crime crackdown in Washington, claiming “three weeks ago, it was the same or worse, and now it’s considered a totally safe zone” after he deployed the National Guard there and implemented a federal takeover of the city’s police department. The takeover expires in 30 days unless an extension is authorized by Congress. Violent crime in Washington hit a 30-year low in 2024, according to the Department of Justice.
Key Background
Trump announced in August he was deploying federal troops in Washington and launching a federal takeover of the Metropolitan Police Department under the city’s Home Rule Act, which allows the federal government to exert some control over city government. Trump can’t legally replicate the federal takeover of local law enforcement in other cities, however, and deploying the National Guard without a state’s permission would likely require him to trigger some sort of emergency powers, such as invoking the Insurrection Act. In addition to Baltimore and Chicago, Trump has also suggested he could send federal troops to New York.
Further Reading
Trump Says He’ll Send National Guard To Chicago And Baltimore (Forbes)
Trump Suggests Chicago Will Get National Guard Next—Here’s Why It Would Be Harder To Do Than DC (Forbes)
Judge Says Trump’s LA Takeover Violated Federal Law — As He Eyes Chicago And New York Next (Forbes)
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