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The Trump administration has started planning for this at the grassroots level. military And intelligence To pursue operations on Mexican soil drug cartel As described by President Donald Trump, as part of “Armed conflict” with drug trafficking organizations.
who will be the personnel Involved in the operations of the Pentagon’s Joint Special Operations Command And the Central Intelligence Agency is already in the “early stages of training” for the mission, which two current U.S. officials have said is not imminent, NBC News reported Monday.
Trump has Drug cartels designated as foreign terrorists Organization.
Officials also said that discussions are going on within the administration. Size and scope of missionsAnd no final decision has been made about whether to authorize any planned operations, but if they get the green light, JSOC personnel would operate under Title 50 of the United States Code, which provides a legal framework for covert intelligence operations.
If authorized, the planned missions would represent a significant increase Series of attacks against Trump claimed to be drug cartel operationThat includes at least 15 attacks against alleged drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean and western Pacific Ocean.
In September, the Administration announced that the United States Formally engaged in “armed conflict” with drug cartels According to a notice to members of Congress, the President has labeled them “unlawful combatants.”
The notice claims the cartels are “non-state armed groups” whose actions “constitute an armed attack against the United States” and are now engaged in a “non-international armed conflict” – or war with a non-state actor.
When asked last month why he would not seek authorization from Congress for his military campaign targeting the South American regime, claiming they were fueling the drug epidemic in the United States, Trump said his government was “just going to kill people” instead.
“I don’t think we would necessarily ask for a declaration of war. I think we’re just going to kill people who are bringing drugs into our country, OK? We’re going to kill them,” Trump said during a White House roundtable with administration officials.
“They’ll, like, die, OK,” he said.
The planned attacks would also mark a major change in the functioning of the United States and Mexico Take action against drug trafficking organizations.
In the past, the US has quietly deployed active-duty military, law enforcement and intelligence personnel to support Mexican law enforcement and military efforts, but those deployments have not included direct action against the cartels.
But if authorized, these missions would involve U.S. personnel conducting drone strikes against suspected drug laboratories and cartel figures, officials said.
These attacks will not be publicized in the same way as the White House and Pentagon have done for attacks on suspected drug-carrying boats, which have been condemned by both foreign governments and members of congresswho have argued that the Trump administration’s air campaign against alleged smugglers amounts to illegal extrajudicial killings.
But even without the publicity that has become the hallmark of Trump’s second term, covert actions could complicate Trump’s relationship with the Mexican government and Mexican President Claudio Sheinbaum.
In August, Sheinbaum told reporters at a press conference that his government would not allow U.S. military personnel to take unilateral action on Mexican soil.
He said, “The United States is not going to come to Mexico with its military – we cooperate, we cooperate, but there will be no invasion. That’s off the table, absolutely off the table.”
Asked to comment on NBC News’ reporting, a senior administration official told the network that the administration is “committed to using a whole-of-government approach to address the threats posed by the cartels to American citizens.”