Louisiana

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, left, is deploying up to 350 Louisiana National Guard members to New Orleans through February to ensure safety and assist the Trump administration’s federal immigration law enforcement efforts there. File Photo by Samuel Corum/UPI | License Photo

Dec. 25 (UPI) — Up to 350 Louisiana National Guard members began deploying this week in New Orleans and will stay through February to help maintain peace and safety during New Year’s and special events.

The deployment also comes amid efforts to locate and deport those who illegally are in the United States.

“These National Guard troops will support federal law enforcement partners, including the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security, as they enforce federal law and counter high rates of violent crime in New Orleans and other metropolitan areas in Louisiana,” Defense Department spokesman Sean Parnell said in a prepared statement on Tuesday.

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry maintains his command and control of the state’s National Guard, whose mission is to enhance safety.

He said the troops will be fully deployed ahead of New Year’s Eve and will stay in New Orleans at least through February.

The deployment was announced after the Supreme Court on Tuesday struck down President Donald Trump’s effort to deploy the Illinois National Guard in Chicago over the protests of Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson.

The troops will be tasked with ensuring safety in the French Quarter during New Year’s celebrations and during the Sugar Bowl and Mardi Gras.

“We know how to make cities safe, and the National Guard complements cities that are experiencing high crime,” Landry said during an appearance on The Will Cain Show.

He cited President Donald Trump’s National Guard deployment in Washington, D.C., as an example of how the troops can make cities safer for residents and visitors.

“When he wanted to send the National Guard into Washington, D.C., Louisiana was one of the first to raise its hand and say our troops will go there,” Landry said. “And the city is so much better.”

Dec. 16 (UPI) — A suspect identified as Micah James Legnon has been arrested by agents from the FBI’s New Iberia office for allegedly planning an attack on federal agents.

Legnon, 29, was a member of the Turtle Island Liberation Front and had communicated with four members who were charged with allegedly planning a series of New Year’s Eve terrorist attacks in the Greater Los Angeles area on Monday, WDSU reported.

He is a resident of New Iberia and was arrested on Friday while driving to New Orleans after FBI agents saw him loading a military-style rifle and body armor into his vehicle and telling others in a Signal chat group that he was traveling to New Orleans.

New Iberia is located about 120 miles west of New Orleans, and Legnon allegedly shared a video that showed multiple firearms, gas canisters and body armor before leaving on Friday.

In that post, Legnon said he was “On my way to NOLA now, be there in about two hours,” but the FBI arrested him while driving east on U.S. Highway 90, according to WWL-TV.

In a Dec. 4 post, Legnon shared a Facebook post showing Customs and Border Protection agents arresting someone and said he wanted to “recreate Waco, Texas,” on the federal officers while referencing the 1993 federal siege on the Branch Davidians compound there.

He is a former Marine who was trained in combat and a self-professed satanist who used the alias “Black Witch” in group chats with four suspects accused of targeting locations throughout California.

Federal prosecutors filed a federal complaint against Legnon and asked the magistrate judge to seal it and related records due to an ongoing investigation.

They asked that it be unsealed on Tuesday, which is a day after the four suspects accused of planning the California terror attacks were charged with related crimes.

The FBI said Legnon had been communicating with the four suspects in California before the arrests were made and charges filed in the respective cases.

The Turtle Island Liberation Front is a far-left, anti-government, anti-capitalist and pro-Palestinian group, according to Attorney General Pam Bondi.