This is after he first ordered three military strikes in September on suspected drug vessels in the Caribbean, and again several more this month. Trump said he did so in an attempt to thwart cartel and foreign terrorist organizations from smuggling fentanyl and other illicit drugs to the U.S. to stop the drug war once and for all.
The Trump administration designated the Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua as a FTO in February and has also levied sanctions against Venezuela and Colombia, where cartels and FTOs have long orchestrated global drug and human smuggling operations.
By early October, Trump told Congress the U.S. was engaged in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels in the Caribbean. On Friday, he said he planned to provide more information to Congress about using the U.S. military to target drug cartel operations, The Center Square reported.
While critics argue the president is escalating conflict in the Caribbean, the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the U.S. Coast Guard have been interdicting cartel and FTO drug and human smuggling, including in the Caribbean, for years. In addition to targeting cartel operatives, they’ve also been arresting illegal foreign nationals from countries of foreign concern like Russia.
In the first three months of the Trump administration, USCG crews hit a milestone of interdicting more than 80,000 pounds of illicit drugs being smuggled by drug cartels attempting to reach the U.S. Their efforts were part of a U.S. Northern Command (NORTHCOM) directive that deployed two U.S. Navy warships to the southwest border in direct support of Coast Guard interdiction efforts, The Center Square reported.
Last month, federal agents made history by seizing the largest volume of precursors used to produce methamphetamine after interdicting two shipments from two ships on the high seas. DHS Homeland Security Investigations international agents in Guatemala, Panama and Mexico worked closely with foreign law enforcement partners to consolidate shipments in Panama and divert them to the Port of Houston, The Center Square reported.