Trump’s designation of cartels as terrorists ends the fiction that Mexico is a trustworthy ally
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On President Donald J. Trump’s first day in office, he issued an executive order designating human and drug trafficking cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs).
This week, the other shoe is expected to drop, as the State Department under Secretary Marco Rubio names names, designating six Mexican cartels as FTOs.
Official Washington has long peddled the comfortable fiction that Mexico is an honest partner in the fight against drugs and human trafficking. This myth persists, despite decades of overwhelming evidence that the Mexican government is at best willfully negligent, and at worst, in active collusion with the criminal networks destroying lives on both sides of the border – cartels that Trump just called out by name.
Police officers stand at a scene where a vehicle has been set alight by members of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel following the detention of one of its leaders by Mexican federal forces, in Zapopan, in Jalisco state, Mexico, Aug. 9, 2022. (Reuters)
Trump has put a forceful end to this lie. Trump’s action exposes the inconvenient truth: Mexico, first under former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) and his Morena Party and now with President Claudia Sheinbaum, is no peer ally. It is a state deeply compromised by cartel corruption and control.
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While Washington elites fret over diplomacy and stability, tens of thousands of Americans are dying from fentanyl poisoning every year. This crisis is directly fueled by cartels operating with impunity in Mexico and with material, financial and intelligence support from China.
These criminal organizations are no different from Middle Eastern terrorist groups like ISIS or Hezbollah. They are ruthless, well-funded, and wield political power in ways that no legitimate government should tolerate – unless, of course, that government is compromised.
Cartels as Terrorists: A Long-Overdue Response
Designating cartels as FTOs is not a radical escalation. It is a necessary adjustment to reality. The same tools we use to fight international terrorism – financial sanctions, expanded intelligence operations and even direct military action – should be brought to bear against the Mexican cartels.
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The benefits of this designation are clear. Cartels and their enablers would face asset freezes, travel bans and severe penalties for anyone providing them with material support. More importantly, U.S. law enforcement would have enhanced authority to dismantle cartel networks inside America. This is a war, and it should be fought as one.
Critics will warn that this could damage U.S.-Mexico relations. But let’s be honest: What exactly are we trying to preserve? A phony partnership where the Mexican government pretends to care about stopping drug trafficking while simultaneously profiting from it? This isn’t diplomacy. It’s a deadly theater.
Mexico’s “Hugs, Not Bullets” Policy: A Green Light for Cartels
Under a policy initiated by AMLO, the so-called abrazos, no balazos (hugs, not bullets) security policy, Mexico has formally surrendered to the cartels. AMLO himself has openly admitted that he prefers to “avoid conflict” with these groups, offering them olive branches while they flood America with deadly drugs and traffic human beings for profit. This is not a strategy; it’s complicity.
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The result is a growing narco-state on our southern border. The cartels’ reach extends into Mexican politics, the judiciary, and even law enforcement at the federal and state levels. Mexican journalists and whistleblowers who dare to expose these connections are frequently silenced – permanently.
Washington’s Cowardice Has Enabled This Crisis
For decades, official Washington has chosen the path of least resistance when it comes to Mexico. Politicians and bureaucrats prefer to maintain the illusion of partnership, no matter how many Americans die from cartel-supplied fentanyl or how many migrants are brutalized by human traffickers. Their concern for “stability” in Mexico is just a euphemism for appeasement.
But stability for whom? Certainly not for the American families burying their children after yet more fentanyl poisonings. Certainly not for the migrants enslaved and trafficked by cartels with the tacit approval of Mexican authorities. Stability only serves the corrupt political class in Mexico and the cartel bosses who bankroll them.
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It’s Time to Take the Gloves Off
Leave it to President Trump. Designating Mexican cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations is the first honest step Washington has taken on this issue in decades. It sends an unmistakable message:
The days of pretending that Mexico is an equal partner are over. We will no longer allow corrupt politicians and cartel leaders to profit from killing Americans while trapping hundreds of thousands in a form of modern slavery without consequences.
If Mexico’s political elite want to continue playing nice with the cartels, that’s their choice. But America has the right – and the responsibility – to defend itself from the deadly consequences of that choice. This is no longer just a border security issue; it’s a vital national security imperative.
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The Washington Swamp will resist the uncomfortable truths this designation will reveal, but that’s not our problem. Their fantasy of Mexico as a responsible partner in regional security is a cruel lie.
It’s time to confront the reality: The Mexican government is not just failing to fight the cartels; it’s actively aiding them – so much so, that’s it is hard to determine where one ends and the other begins.
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