By: Kylah Babin
LSU Manship School News Service
State Senate President Cameron Henry said Friday that he does not believe
the National Guard needs to be deployed in New Orleans, but he can see a need for it in Baton
Rouge.
“My thought is not to have them come to New Orleans because we have state police
there and they are doing a good job,” Henry, a Republican, said during an interview with the
LSU Manship School News Service.
The New Orleans Police Department announced a 20% overall decrease in violent crime
incidents so far in 2025 compared to 2024. Despite this decrease, President Donald Trump has
talked about sending the National Guard to New Orleans.
Gov. Jeff Landry has asked the Pentagon to send 1,000 National Guard members to
fight crime in New Orleans, Baton Rouge and Shreveport.
Henry, who represents parts of Jefferson and Orleans Parish, believes that the National
Guard should be sent elsewhere.
“Downtown Baton Rouge has a significant homeless population problem,” Henry stated.
“Though the National Guard can’t do anything about the homeless population, what they can do
something about is the fights and arguments that the homeless are getting into on the street.”
He adds that Baton Rouge brings in a lot of out-of-state guests because of the LSU
football games. The money from tourists is necessary to continue to fund programs and
services that Louisiana residents need.
“To have a group of homeless people fighting in the middle of the street is not a good
message for anyone,” Henry said.
Last month, Landry also addressed the homelessness problem during an interview on
Unfiltered With Kiran.
“I think that (majority) of the homeless population is really a group of mentally unstable
people that need some institutional care,” Landry said. “Another 10% are, quite frankly, a bunch
of criminals that use the homeless population to basically camouflage or to carry out their illegal
drug activity, their human trafficking. They prey on those people. And it really is inhumane, and
it doesn’t do us any good to have people out there.”
The Pentagon has not responded to Landry’s request. Political leaders in New Orleans,
which depends on tourism, have voiced their opposition to having guard troops in their city.
“The National Guard actually doesn’t help toward crime reduction,” said New Orleans
Mayor-Elect Helena Moreno during a debate on Sept. 16. She believes that if federal resources
were to be used in New Orleans, then the city’s police chief and local leadership should be
consulted as to what the city needs.
Landry sent his request to the Pentagon in late September, leaving the state legislature
without any answers.
“Since he mentioned that, we haven’t heard anything from anybody about it,” Henry
states.
While the state continues to wait for a response, there are no current plans for deploying
the National Guard into these cities.