Trump orders US army to combat foreign drug cartels

U.S. President Donald Trump has ordered the Pentagon to use the military to carry out law enforcement against foreign drug cartels. The Republican’s decree provides an official basis for undertaking direct military operations on foreign soil and in corresponding territorial waters against organized criminal groups.

Trump secretly signed a directive to the Pentagon to begin using military force against certain Latin American drug cartels that the administration has designated as terrorist organizations, The New York Times reported Friday, citing sources familiar with the matter.

The decision to involve the military is the most aggressive step yet in the administration’s escalating campaign against cartels and underscores Trump’s determination to use military forces to carry out what have traditionally been law enforcement operations to stem the flow of fentanyl — a drug responsible for the worst addiction crisis in decades in the United States, the threat of which the White House has used to justify its tariffs on Mexico and Canada — and other illegal drugs into the country. According to the sources cited by the Times, U.S. officials have begun developing options for how these groups could be pursued, according to sources familiar with the discussions who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The Republican administration is sparing no means to combat drug trafficking, including raising to $50 million its reward for the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, whom Washington links to the Sinaloa Cartel and describes as “one of the biggest drug traffickers in the world.” But ordering the military to crack down on drug trafficking overseas also raises legal questions, including the possibility that such a campaign could result in civilian casualties at the hands of military personnel deployed in third countries. Congress must authorize the deployment of forces abroad, in the event of a war, but the legal basis for more purely law enforcement operations, such as dismantling a cartel or arresting its members, is unknown.

At this time, according to the newspaper, lawyers from the White House, the Pentagon, and the State Department have not commented publicly on the matter. It is also unknown whether the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel has issued an authoritative opinion determining the legal issues.

If the militarization of the fight against drug trafficking is confirmed, it wouldn’t be the first such initiative. This year, Trump deployed the National Guard and troops to the southwest border to stem the flow of drugs and immigrants, and he has ordered a redoubling of drug surveillance and seizure efforts.

Separately, according to Reuters, the FBI has asked local police departments to report the names of individuals linked to drug cartels and gangs to the U.S. government for inclusion on the terrorist watch list created after 9/11, which could mean adding American citizens to the list.

The federal investigative agency contacted local law enforcement agencies via email on May 9, asking them to share the names of people with suspected ties to eight criminal groups that Trump has designated as foreign terrorist organizations. It also asked law enforcement agencies to share information about relatives and acquaintances of members of those groups.

The email, which was obtained by the nonprofit Property of the People, which advocates for public data transparency, and shared with Reuters, was forwarded to other law enforcement agencies and groups such as the National Sheriffs’ Association, which confirmed receiving it from the FBI.

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