Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum rejected a U.S. military “invasion” of Mexico, following President Donald Trump’s decision to direct the Pentagon to target specific drug cartels.
“The United States is not going to come to Mexico with their military,” she said during a press conference on Friday after the New York Times reported that Trump had quietly signed a directive ordering the Pentagon to use military force against cartels that have been designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations.
Recommended Stories
- Air Force denies retirement pay for some discharged transgender service members
- Germany ceases all exports of arms designated for use in Gaza
- Trump says it’s up to Putin to agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine
“We cooperate, we collaborate, but there will be no invasion. It’s off the table, absolutely off the table,” Sheinbaum continued, adding that the Mexican government was informed of the executive order. However, she insisted, “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 country.”
Trump’s order gives the military an official basis for the possibility of military operations at sea and on foreign soil against the cartels, according to the outlet. If confirmed, it would significantly escalate the possible tactics U.S. troops use in Latin America.
The Pentagon referred the Washington Examiner to the White House, which did not say whether the president signed such an order.
Declaring cartels FTOs “gives us legal authorities to target them in ways you can’t do if they’re just a bunch of criminals. It’s no longer a law enforcement issue. It becomes a national security issue,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in an interview with EWTN on Thursday. “It allows us to now target what they’re operating and to use other elements of American power, intelligence agencies, the Department of Defense.”
The Trump administration has made the targeting of Latin American cartels a primary mission in its first 200 days. In February, the State Department designated eight Latin-based organized drug cartels as FTOs.
“President Trump’s top priority is protecting the homeland, which is why he took the bold step to designate several cartels and gangs as foreign terrorist organizations,” White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly told the Washington Examiner.
This week, the Justice Department doubled its bounty to $50 million on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, whom it has accused of leading the Cartel of the Suns.
The administration has also deployed thousands of U.S. troops to the southern border to aid the Department of Homeland Security in stopping illegal border crossings and smuggling. Under Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, the U.S. military is taking a much larger role in border security than before.
In mid-July, the Pentagon began constructing a detention center at Texas’s Fort Bliss that will be able to hold thousands of migrants.
RUBIO NAMES EIGHT LATIN CARTELS AS TERRORIST ORGANIZATIONS
The facility will have an initial detainment capacity of 1,000 and will likely reach that by mid-to-late August, according to Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson. There will be up to 5,000 beds once it’s at full capacity.
“Upon completion, this will be the largest federal detention center in history for this critical mission, the deportation of illegal aliens,” Wilson said.