WASHINGTON, D.C. - In an interview with Just the News, President Trump's National Security Advisor Mike Waltz suggested that cartels and gangs could face military action, saying they are "more like ISIS than the mafia."
With Trump back in office, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has pursued a historic racketeering indictment against drug cartels and gangs. On Monday, April 21st, the DOJ used the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) to target one of those gangs, with prosecutors charging 27 individuals associated with the violent Venezuelan international criminal organization Tren de Aragua (TdA).
Many of the individuals charged committed crimes of murder, sex trafficking, robberies, extortion, and drug dealing. Waltz claims that TdA and other groups like it are more akin to the dangerous terrorist group ISIS than organized crime. He said, "[These] groups aren't like the mafia, they're more like ISIS. They are combating the Mexican army in full-on firefights. They're shooting at aircraft."
He added, "They deserve all aspects of our national power to be used against them, to defend our sovereignty, to defend our borders, and that's why you've seen the Defense Department under Secretary Hegseth and Trump's leadership shift its assets to actually defend America."
Since taking office in January, President Trump has ordered 10,000 active-duty troops to help secure the southern border and deployed two warships, military aircraft, and combat vehicles as tools to aid in operations. The soldiers have helped border agents patrol the border and have carried out deportation flights of illegal immigrants.
Waltz said that the military deployments are part of a "much tougher approach in the cartels" and on border security more generally. He said that President Trump sees the southern border as one of the root causes of the drug trade and the origin of the violent criminal groups growing in, and terrorizing, American cities.
Waltz added, "Look, these cartels control whole swaths of Mexico and our southern border. That is completely unacceptable." President Trump's designation of several criminal groups, including Mexican drug cartels and foreign gangs like TdA, as Foreign Terrorist Organizations sets the stage for enhanced targeting of the groups with military forces or covert intelligence actions.
Before his inauguration, President Trump vowed that he would designate Mexico drug cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations under U.S. law, which gives his administration access to counterterrorism powers like the ability to launch covert operations against the groups.
In addition to troop deployments to the southern border, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has expanded secret drone flights over Mexico with the approval of the Mexican government to collect intelligence on cartel operations. These overflights are critical tools for the U.S. to locate and monitor potential targets, such as cartel leaders, drug production centers, or weapons depots.
The CIA, which is governed under Title 50, can be deployed for covert actions at the president's direction as long as the congressional intelligence committees are notified in advance.
The use of foreign terrorist designation as a precursor to military action has precedent in the prior Trump administration. Just eight months before launching the strike that killed top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani, Trump designated his elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Fords as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.
With Trump back in office, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has pursued a historic racketeering indictment against drug cartels and gangs. On Monday, April 21st, the DOJ used the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) to target one of those gangs, with prosecutors charging 27 individuals associated with the violent Venezuelan international criminal organization Tren de Aragua (TdA).
Many of the individuals charged committed crimes of murder, sex trafficking, robberies, extortion, and drug dealing. Waltz claims that TdA and other groups like it are more akin to the dangerous terrorist group ISIS than organized crime. He said, "[These] groups aren't like the mafia, they're more like ISIS. They are combating the Mexican army in full-on firefights. They're shooting at aircraft."
He added, "They deserve all aspects of our national power to be used against them, to defend our sovereignty, to defend our borders, and that's why you've seen the Defense Department under Secretary Hegseth and Trump's leadership shift its assets to actually defend America."
Since taking office in January, President Trump has ordered 10,000 active-duty troops to help secure the southern border and deployed two warships, military aircraft, and combat vehicles as tools to aid in operations. The soldiers have helped border agents patrol the border and have carried out deportation flights of illegal immigrants.
Waltz said that the military deployments are part of a "much tougher approach in the cartels" and on border security more generally. He said that President Trump sees the southern border as one of the root causes of the drug trade and the origin of the violent criminal groups growing in, and terrorizing, American cities.
Waltz added, "Look, these cartels control whole swaths of Mexico and our southern border. That is completely unacceptable." President Trump's designation of several criminal groups, including Mexican drug cartels and foreign gangs like TdA, as Foreign Terrorist Organizations sets the stage for enhanced targeting of the groups with military forces or covert intelligence actions.
Before his inauguration, President Trump vowed that he would designate Mexico drug cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations under U.S. law, which gives his administration access to counterterrorism powers like the ability to launch covert operations against the groups.
In addition to troop deployments to the southern border, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has expanded secret drone flights over Mexico with the approval of the Mexican government to collect intelligence on cartel operations. These overflights are critical tools for the U.S. to locate and monitor potential targets, such as cartel leaders, drug production centers, or weapons depots.
The CIA, which is governed under Title 50, can be deployed for covert actions at the president's direction as long as the congressional intelligence committees are notified in advance.
The use of foreign terrorist designation as a precursor to military action has precedent in the prior Trump administration. Just eight months before launching the strike that killed top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani, Trump designated his elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Fords as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.
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