Washington, 4 December 2025 (dpa/MIA) - The US Department of Homeland Security has announced that federal officials will be deployed against migrants in another Democrat-governed US city, New Orleans.

The operation in the city in the southern US state of Louisiana is to target criminal migrants, including those who have been released after arrests, a department spokeswoman said on Wednesday.

However, the New York Times pointed out that most of the people arrested in previous operations had no criminal history. 

The announcement did not specify which and how many federal agents would be deployed in New Orleans, or for how long.

US President Donald Trump also indicated on Tuesday that he would soon deploy National Guard soldiers to New Orleans. Trump emphasized that the Republican governor of Louisiana, Jeff Landry, had asked him for help in the city.

The Trump administration has caused controversy in recent months with its crackdowns on migrants – most recently in the Democratic-governed cities of Charlotte, North Carolina, and Chicago, Illinois.

Particular criticism has been levelled at raids by the immigration authority ICE, some of whose officers were masked, and at the actions of border guards, whom critics accuse of arbitrariness and aggressive behaviour.

In addition, the US government also sent National Guard soldiers to various democratically governed cities.

The National Guard is a military reserve unit and part of the US armed forces. It can be deployed in the event of natural disasters, unrest or domestic emergencies. 

Trump justified the deployments on the grounds of combating allegedly rampant crime and protecting federal officials in the cities. Critics, however, accuse him of staging a military show of force and attempting to intimidate political opponents.

Several courts are now examining whether the US government acted lawfully in deploying the soldiers.

Photo: MIA archive