The U.S. military is deploying troops to the southern Caribbean as part of the Trump administration‘s desired crackdown on drug cartels in Central America.

President Donald Trump has sought to use the military more to stop drug cartels, several of which the administration has already designated as foreign terrorist organizations. It’s been one aspect of Trump’s focus on securing the U.S. southern border and stopping the flow of illegal immigration and smuggling into the country.

Recommended Stories

• Trump confident Putin will make a deal. What does he know we don’t?
• The gun that allegedly shoots by itself: New Hampshire-based Sig Sauer is fighting for its reputation
• Trump-Putin summit: The reality of where things stand on the Ukraine battlefield

Deploying more than 4,000 Marines and sailors from the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group and the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit to U.S. Southern Command will provide Trump with a large range of options if he decides U.S. troops should attack the cartels, according to CNN.

Several P-8 spy planes, at least one warship, and at least one attack submarine will also be allocated to SouthCom, according to a source familiar with the deployment.

“We’re watching, we know a little bit more than they think we know about them,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in a Fox News interview this week, referring to Mexican drug cartels designated FTOs. “We spend a lot of attention watching them, we’re focused on this. It’s a presidential priority, it’s our priority, we’re working with federal partners to identify that, all across the Western Hemisphere. This is something we’re not taking lying down anymore.”

These changes could mark a dramatic shift in the military’s involvement in Central America.

Trump quietly signed a directive ordering the Pentagon to use military force against cartels that have the FTO designation, the New York Times reported last week.

“What it changes is, it 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 last week. “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 designated Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel, as well as Venezuelan criminal group Tren de Aragua, among a handful of others as FTOs, as it stepped up immigration enforcement against alleged gang members already in the U.S.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has strongly opposed U.S. military operations inside the country, though she has expressed a willingness to cooperate with the U.S.

This week, Mexico sent 26 high-ranking cartel figures to the U.S. for prosecution.

Abigael Gonzalez Valencia, a leader of “Los Cuinis,” a group closely aligned with notorious cartel Jalisco New Generation, and Roberto Salazar, who is wanted in connection with the 2008 killing of a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy, were among the group returned to the U.S.

SHEINBAUM INSISTS NO US ‘INVASION’ OF MEXICO AS TRUMP SENDS MILITARY AFTER CARTELS

“These 26 men have all played a role in bringing violence and drugs to American shores — under this Department of Justice, they will face severe consequences for their crimes against this country,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement. “We are grateful to Mexico’s National Security team for their collaboration in this matter.”

Mexico previously extradited 29 cartel leaders to the U.S. in February under the condition that the Department of Justice wouldn’t pursue the death penalty against them.