When Helena Moreno (Xalapa, Mexico, 48 years old) arrived at the mayor’s office in New Orleans, the city was under siege by Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant machinery. Late last year, the Republican government set its sights on this southern city, known as the birthplace of jazz, and launched in the State of Louisiana what it called operation Catahoula Crunch, a name inspired by “the tenacity and courage” of a dog breed typical of the region, the catahoula. Crunch means to crush, so the objective of the anti-immigrant operation left no room for doubt. In that context, Moreno took office as the first Latina mayor of a city where the migrant community is relatively small, but significant.
“When we were subjected to the so-called operation Catahoula Crunch, I met with the business community and religious leaders to tell them: ‘Open your eyes. Why would this really be good for anyone?’”, Moreno recalls during the interview. “Because, in the end, what was happening was generating economic consequences for the city of New Orleans. It was also creating public safety problems, as many people were afraid to call the police even when they were victims of a crime or were injured.”
The anti-immigration operation launched in New Orleans by the Trump Administration between December 2025 and February of this year was part of the strategy undertaken by the president in the first year of his term, in which he sent thousands of federal agents to cities governed by Democrats to pursue, detain, and deport migrants.
The deployment in Louisiana occurred around the same time as that in Minnesota, where immigration agents shot and killed two U.S. citizens amidst massive protests against Trump’s immigration policy. Following the two deaths that shook the entire country, Minneapolis was the last city to fall victim to the president, in what has been a strategic shift from highly visible urban deployments to less conspicuous and more specific operations.
But while all eyes were on the Midwest city, New Orleans, on the banks of the mighty Mississippi River, was dealing with the consequences of an operation that, although it resulted in a much lower number of arrests than initially planned —fewer than 600 people, compared to the announced target of 5,000—, instilled panic in the local migrant community.
Many of New Orleans’ most frequented restaurants and other businesses closed for weeks out of fear. Sectors dependent on migrant labor, such as construction and services, were immediately affected by the absence of terrified workers. Here, migrants represent approximately 9% of the population and help boost the city’s tourism sector. Hondurans are historically the most numerous, but there are also Mexican or Nicaraguan migrants, groups that arrived mainly after the devastating Hurricane Katrina in 2005 to work on reconstruction after the storm.
During operation Catahoula Crunch, which was celebrated by the state governor, Republican Jeff Landry, Moreno demanded transparency and denounced that migrant arrests in the city were motivated by racial discrimination. “I support removing murderers, shooters, rapists, and violent criminals from our streets, but from the beginning of operation Catahoula Crunch, it became very clear that the modus operandi was for agents to find and target predominantly Hispanic groups of people,” she stated at the end of January.
A Latina and Bilingual “Star”
“These are truly difficult times. I see and feel it constantly in the way people want to silence others. There are those who simply seek to intimidate certain communities. And my responsibility as mayor is to do everything in my power to defend and protect them,” the mayor now reflects.
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After her first six months in office, the Democrat believes that her identity has allowed her to connect with a community that for a long time did not have a person in power with whom they could identify. “As a Latina and bilingual, I can approach the community and maintain a direct dialogue with them so they understand what is really happening. Because there is also a lot of misinformation circulating. I can intervene and say: ‘Wait, this is not true,’ ‘You cannot do this,’ or ‘Be careful with this,’ precisely because I can communicate with them in their language and because they trust me as another Latina woman,” she points out.
Moreno speaks with EL PAÍS at the annual conference of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ), which took place this week in her city and where she participated in an awards ceremony. In her opening speech, the mayor recalled that she herself was a journalist before entering politics.
Born in the Mexican state of Veracruz, Moreno does not belong to Louisiana’s power circles or the families that have dominated local politics for years. She is the daughter of a Mexican businessman and an American poet, and in her childhood, she was called “güerita” (light-skinned/blonde), due to her fair skin and blonde hair. At eight years old, her family moved from the neighboring country to Texas, where she later trained as a journalist. She arrived in New Orleans to work as a reporter for the city’s NBC affiliate, and a few years later won an Emmy Award for her coverage of Katrina.
In 2008, she decided to leave the profession to dedicate herself to politics, something she now recalls was not easy at all, particularly in a conservative state like Louisiana, although New Orleans is a Democratic stronghold. Two years later, she was elected a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives for District 93, and in 2017 she won a seat on the City Council.
Moreno ran for mayor of New Orleans a month before Trump won the 2024 general election. Following the Republican’s landslide victory, her campaign, along with several other Democrats across the country, such as that of the now mayor of New York, Zohran Mamdani, gained special relevance, as it was seen as a response to the magnate’s second rise to power. Before the November 2025 elections, former Vice President and former Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris called Moreno a “star.” In January 2026, Harris swore her in as mayor.
Half a year later, Moreno has an approval rating of 78.6%, according to a poll published in mid-July by her campaign. From City Hall, Moreno has repeatedly clashed with Republican Governor Jeff Landry, a Trump ally —he was his special envoy to Greenland in May, the Arctic island the president so much wants to acquire— and the state’s Attorney General, also Republican Liz Murrill, over issues such as local control, immigration, and New Orleans’ authority. These tensions have become a constant throughout her term.
She has remained firm in her convictions in the face of state and federal pressure. “That will always be my duty and my stance: to protect and defend the people who live in the city of New Orleans,” the mayor asserts. In her speech at the NAHJ conference, she noted that, initially, she dedicated herself to journalism to make a difference in the lives of others. Over time, this led her to leave the newsroom to dedicate herself to local politics.
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