President Donald Trump has secretly signed a directive authorizing the use of military force against some Latin American drug cartels, according to a Friday report from The New York Times.
“The order provides an official basis for the possibility of direct military operations at sea and on foreign soil against cartels,” says the report. “U.S. military officials have started drawing up options for how the military could go after the groups, the people familiar with the conversations said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive internal deliberations.”
On Thursday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio reiterated his support for the administration’s decision earlier this year to designate certain international cartels as terrorist organizations, saying that they can no longer be treated as “simply drug-dealing organizations.”
Trump’s Mexican counterpart, Claudia Sheinbaum, rejected the idea that the United States was planning any kind of invasion.
“The United States is not going to come to Mexico with their military,” Sheinbaum said during a Friday press conference. “We cooperate, we collaborate, but there will be no invasion. It’s off the table, absolutely off the table.”
Sheinbaum acknowledged Trump’s directive, but insisted that “it had nothing to do with the participation of any military or any institution on our territory. There is no risk that they will invade our territory.”
The threat of a war across the border isn’t new for Trump or his allies. Former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper wrote in his 2022 book that, during his first term in office, the president had suggested shooting missiles into Mexico to destroy drug labs.
While he served as Senator, now Vice President J.D. Vance said he wanted to empower the American president, regardless of party, to take military action against the cartels. After last year’s election, there were reportedly discussions within Trump’s inner circle about how aggressive the military “invasion” of Mexico should be. Republicans in Congress have also in recent years signaled rhetoric and legislative support for possible military action across the border. While its full extent remains unclear, the new directive marks the most concrete step yet toward potential U.S. military action against cartels beyond its borders.
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