New Orleans Gets Federal 'Help' Policing Migrants, Not Lead Pipes
Operation “Swamp Sweep” brings 250 federal agents to New Orleans, a city supposedly 'aligned' by Republican Governor Jeff Landry with federal immigration enforcement. The AP notes the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) lost a consent decree shield, making them available for this new, humanitarian-sounding mission. Conveniently unmentioned: New Orleans continues to grapple with critically
underfunded infrastructure, including a water system plagued by frequent boil advisories and lead contamination risks, alongside a rampant violent crime rate. The federal troops aren't there to fix the actual 'swamp' of failing public services, of course. Instead of addressing the 100,000 lead pipes still leaching into residents' drinking water (EPA estimates), or the nation-leading homicide rate
often highlighted by the same media outlets, federal resources are funneled into manufacturing a new crisis. One might wonder, how many lead pipes could be replaced, or truly effective crime prevention programs funded, with the millions spent deploying 250 federal agents and Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino (whose 'aggressive campaigns' previously hit Los Angeles and Chicago)? Apparently,
'aggressive' means targeting migrant families, not toxic water or criminal organizations. Priorities, as they say, reflect values.