President Donald Trump fires back at Vladimir Putin following Russia’s aerial attacks on Ukraine, the Treasury Department reveals a new approach to combating drug cartels, and Hollywood enjoys a record-breaking box office over Memorial Day weekend. 
It’s Tuesday, May 27, and this is the news you need to know to start your day.
Morning Wire is available on video! You can watch today’s episode here:
 
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If you’d rather listen to your news, today’s edition of the Morning Wire podcast can be heard below:
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<h2>Russia Strikes Ukraine</h2>
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Topline: President Trump rails against Russian President Vladimir Putin after he launches another aerial attack on Ukraine.
Over the weekend, Russia launched a series of air assaults on Ukrainian cities, deploying hundreds of attack drones and dozens of missiles. Those strikes killed at least 12 people and injured dozens more — many civilians — in what Ukraine <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/russian-drone-fragments-set-kyiv-apartment-building-ablaze-official-says-2025-05-24/">called</a> the most extensive aerial bombardment of the three-year war. 
In recent months, there had been hopes that a peace deal was within reach, but Putin appears to be making clear that he’s pushing ahead, despite increased threats of sanctions from the West. Ukrainian intelligence <a href="https://ca.news.yahoo.com/russias-casualties-war-against-ukraine-095937828.html?guccounter=1&amp;guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&amp;guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAM3atsZc41kCSRMKSfurjA_lU-16DhBVMjma8L5udzrwkvFa0KgXegrcgN4PLiL5kMS7G5o-tI97OUCDDVv0q_D28ERp7U8aWOO1ONbadwbiQg0sOb-32woFiDBFhUNANBcGjAoYOUBI1FcOyeD46QfZpkI09tXrEb_Zwy9CY8KJ">reportedly</a> shows that Moscow is gathering forces near the front line in preparation for a summer offensive. 
In response to those attacks, President Trump offered his <a href="https://x.com/yashar/status/1926775198956572815">strongest condemnation</a> of Putin to date. “I don&#8217;t know what the hell happened to Putin. I&#8217;ve known him a long time, always gotten along with him, but he&#8217;s sending rockets into cities and killing people, and I don&#8217;t like it at all. Okay, we&#8217;re in the middle of talking and he&#8217;s shooting rockets into Kiev and other cities.“ Later, on social media, the president appeared to make a veiled threat against Putin, <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114571369956761390">writing,</a> “I’ve always said that he wants ALL of Ukraine, not just a piece of it, and maybe that’s proving to be right. But if he does, it will lead to the downfall of Russia!” 
However, this new anti-Putin rhetoric hasn’t exactly led to friendlier relations with Ukraine. Trump also said over the weekend that “Zelensky is doing his country no favors by talking the way he does. Everything out of his mouth causes problems.” 
Meanwhile, on Friday, Trump accused the Europeans of being “difficult to deal with” during trade negotiations, saying “discussions are going nowhere.”  The president threatened a 50% tariff that would kick in on June 1. That seemingly got their attention, as European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called the White House over the weekend to say “Europe is ready to advance talks swiftly and decisively.” As a result of that new willingness to make a deal, Trump agreed to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-delays-50-tariffs-eu-leader-blinks?author=Daniel+Chaitin&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=8&amp;row=3&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+News&amp;rowType=Vertical+Carousel&amp;title=Trump+Delays+50%25+Tariffs+On+EU+After+Its+Leader+Blinks">pause</a> his tariff hike until July 9 so an agreement could be reached. 
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<h2>Freezing Cartel Funds</h2>
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Topline:  Trump enlists the Treasury Department in his sweeping crackdown on drug cartels.
President Trump promised a “whole of government” approach to combating drug cartels. While the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the Border Patrol have obvious roles to play, the Treasury Department is taking steps to crack down on money laundering.
“One of the most important things that the president did upon coming into office was to declare a number of the narco groups terrorist organizations,” Deputy Treasury Secretary Michael Faulkender told The Daily Wire. “[That] unleashes additional authorities at Treasury for us to better target some of the financial activities that these cartels are engaging in. It&#8217;s one thing to have our partners at DHS work on stopping the flow of people and drugs, but we can also use our financial tools to go after the money – because if the money is not flowing back south, then there&#8217;s less of an incentive to bring the drugs and the guns and some of the illicit activity up to the north.”
Among other things, Faulkender explained why Brinks Global was fined $37 million. “There is a statute called the Bank Secrecy Act that requires that if you&#8217;re going to facilitate transfers of monetary sums, that you need to know who the party is that is receiving this money, that is engaging in this transaction. And so what we did is our Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, which is called FinCEN, they launched an investigation into how this money was flowing south of the border – and found that Brinks had facilitated some of these money transfers without knowing who the parties were that were participating in this transaction.”
For the full interview, check out the Morning Wire podcast.
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<h2>Box Office Bonanza</h2>
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Topline: The box office for the holiday weekend blew away expectations. Disney’s live-action &#8220;Lilo &amp; Stitch&#8221; and Paramount’s &#8220;Mission: Impossible 8&#8221; set records to kick off the summer blockbuster season.
&#8220;Lilo &amp; Stitch&#8221; and &#8220;Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning&#8221; provide a much-needed shot in the arm for theaters nationwide. According to studio estimates, &#8220;Lilo &amp; Stitch&#8221; grossed a staggering $183 million domestically. That’s an all-time Disney record for this time frame. Its global haul was $342 million. Meanwhile, &#8220;Mission: Impossible&#8221; brought in a franchise-best $77 million domestically and $190 million worldwide. Taken together, Hollywood hopes this is a game-changer for an industry that’s been fighting to regain that pre-pandemic momentum.
Social media buzz for &#8220;Lilo &amp; Stitch,&#8221; especially from younger women and parents, has been off the charts with an “A” CinemaScore signaling strong word-of-mouth. Posts on X captured the excitement, with fans showing up in Stitch merch and plushies, turning screenings into events. This kind of cultural resonance is exactly what Disney banks on with its IP-driven strategy – sometimes successfully, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/snow-white-bombs-with-one-of-disneys-lowest-opening-weekends-for-a-remake">sometimes not</a>.
While it didn’t reach the heights of &#8220;Lilo &amp; Stitch,&#8221; &#8220;Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning&#8221; is unquestionably a triumph for Tom Cruise. The film’s opening beat the previous franchise record set by &#8220;Mission: Impossible – Fallout&#8221; in 2018 by $14 million, not adjusted for inflation.
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Morning Brief: Trump Blasts Putin, Cartel Crackdowns & Box Office Bonanza

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Vladimir Putin

President Donald Trump said Sunday that Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum is so afraid of drug cartels that &#8220;she can&#8217;t even think straight,&#8221; and that&#8217;s why she rejected his proposal to send American troops into Mexico to fight them.
Trump made the comments after he was asked whether news that he had made the offer was true. On Saturday, Sheinbaum said that she had turned down Trump&#8217;s offer because it would impugn Mexican sovereignty.
&#8220;It&#8217;s true,&#8221; Trump told reporters. &#8220;[The cartels] are horrible people that have been killing people left and right. They&#8217;ve made a fortune on selling drugs and destroying our people. We lost 300,000 people last year to fentanyl and drugs. They are bad news.&#8221;
&#8220;If Mexico wanted help with the cartels we would be honored to go in and do it,&#8221; he added. &#8220;I told her that, &#8216;I&#8217;d be honored to go in and do it.&#8217; The cartels are trying to destroy our country. They are evil! And you know, we had 300,000 people die last year from fentanyl and all that. We had millions of people brought into this country that shouldn&#8217;t be here. The cartels brought them in.&#8221;
He said that he thought Sheinbaum was nice but that she refused American help because she was scared of the cartels.
&#8220;So if she said that I offered to do that, she&#8217;s 100 percent right,&#8221; Trump said. &#8220;She&#8217;s so afraid of the cartels she can&#8217;t walk so you know, that&#8217;s the reason. And I think she&#8217;s a lovely woman. The president of Mexico is a lovely woman. But she is so afraid of the cartels that she can&#8217;t even think straight.&#8221;
On Friday, it was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-pressures-mexico-to-allow-u-s-military-to-lead-fight-against-drug-cartels?author=Zach+Jewell&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Trump+Pressures+Mexico+To+Allow+U.S.+Military+To+Lead+Fight+Against+Drug+Cartels" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> that Sheinbaum and Trump got into a heated phone call last month after he pushed for the U.S. military to lead in the fight against cartels.
&#8220;He said, &#8216;How can we help you fight drug trafficking? I propose that the United States military come in and help you.&#8217; And you know what I said to him? &#8216;No, President Trump,'&#8221; Sheinbaum <a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-sheinbaum-mexico-drug-cartels-c2113e74cfc122f8f5a9e162644a470f" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> on Saturday, confirming the conversation.
&#8220;Sovereignty is not for sale. Sovereignty is loved and defended,&#8221; she added. &#8220;We can work together, but you in your territory and us in ours.&#8221;
Trump has designated cartels as foreign terrorist organizations and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-it-is-time-for-america-to-wage-war-on-the-cartels" target="_blank" rel="noopener">promised</a> in a speech before Congress to &#8220;wage war&#8221; on them.
White House National Security Council spokesman James Hewitt said Saturday that while the United States-Mexico border had largely been secured, Mexico still needed to do more to crack down on drug cartels.
&#8220;Dangerous Foreign Terrorist Organizations, however, continue to threaten our shared security and the drugs and crime they spread threaten American communities across the country,&#8221; Hewitt said. &#8220;The President has been crystal clear that Mexico must do more to combat these gangs and cartels and the United States stands ready to assist and expand the already close cooperation between our two countries.&#8221;

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Trump Says Mexico’s President ‘Afraid’ To Let American Troops Come Fight Cartels

Claudia Sheinbaum

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Acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director Todd Lyons said on Friday that his agency has rounded up nearly 400 members of the Tren de Aragua terrorist organization since President Donald Trump took office.
Lyons revealed that ICE arrested 68 members of the organization in the last 48 hours alone.
&#8220;TDA members aren&#8217;t stupid,&#8221; he said at a press conference. &#8220;They don&#8217;t wear uniforms like the men and women here. They&#8217;re out there. They&#8217;re sophisticated, and they hide their crimes.&#8221;
&#8220;But today I&#8217;m here to let everyone know that we are more sophisticated,&#8221; he said. &#8220;We have more resources than ever to find them and get rid of them from the United States. Since March 15, the president invoked the Alien Enemies Act, and our officers have risked their lives every day to ensure that we are going after these foreign terrorist networks in our communities.&#8221;
He said that the goal was to &#8220;eradicate TDA from U.S. soil.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons: This month, through the work of <a href="https://twitter.com/DHSgov?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DHSgov</a> and President Trump, we have designated Tren de Aragua a top priority… in the last 48 hours, ICE and our partners have arrested more than 68 TDA gang members. To date, we’ve arrested 394 of these terrorists. <a href="https://t.co/JPj1rrJOtz">pic.twitter.com/JPj1rrJOtz</a>
&mdash; Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1903190571650314611?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 21, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The Trump administration deported 250 illegal aliens belonging to the terrorist organization last week despite <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/judge-says-trump-admin-defense-of-gang-member-deportation-flights-woefully-insufficient">efforts</a> from an Obama-appointed federal judge to stop the deportations.
Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-expected-to-invoke-wartime-powers-to-deport-illegal-tren-de-aragua-members">invoked</a> the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 this month to authorize the rapid removal of Tren de Aragua members from the country.
The law allows the president to arrest, detain, and deport non-citizens aged 14-years-old or older who come from nations that are mounting an “invasion or predatory incursion” into the United States. Tren de Aragua was one of the entities that the Trump administration designated as a foreign terror organization on the president’s first day in office.
“TdA is a transnational organization that originated in Venezuela with cells in Colombia, Peru, and Chile, with further reports of sporadic presence in Ecuador, Bolivia, and Brazil,” the Trump State Department said of Tren de Aragua. “This brutal criminal group has conducted kidnappings, extorted businesses, bribed public officials, authorized its members to attack and kill U.S. law enforcement, and assassinated a Venezuelan opposition figure.”
The gang became infamous after members of the criminal organization took control over apartment complexes in Aurora, Colorado.

US deports over 250 alleged gang members to El Salvador’s mega-prison

ICE Arrests Dozens More Tren De Aragua Terrorists

Crime

Illegal Immigration

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President Donald Trump declared that it is time for America to “wage war on the cartels” during his historic speech in front of Congress.
The 47th president detailed his administration’s border security actions and its posture toward the Mexican drug cartels, which Trump designated as foreign terror organizations on his first day in office.
“The cartels are waging war on America and it is time for America to wage war on the cartels,” Trump said during his speech to Congress. “Two weeks ago, I officially designated this gang, along with MS-13 and the bloodthirsty Mexican drug cartels, as foreign terrorist organizations. They are now officially in the same category as ISIS.”
“Countless thousands of these terrorists were welcomed into the U.S. by the Biden administration,” he went on to add. “But now every last one will be rounded up and forcibly removed from our country.”
The surge of criminal illegal aliens resulted in the loss of American life, Trump noted during his speech. “All three savages charged with Jocelyn and Laken’s murders were members of the Venezuelan prison gang … Tren de Aragua,” the president said, referencing the deaths of Jocelyn Nungaray and Laken Riley at the hands of illegal aliens.
Since entering office less than two months ago, the Trump administration has already secured the capture of key cartel leaders. Trump explained that Mexican authorities handed over 29 cartel leaders to the United States in an unprecedented move prompted by the president’s threat of tariffs against America’s neighbor to the south.
Trump’s comments came just after Border Czar Tom Homan joined The Daily Wire and explained that the administration will use the “<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/tom-homan-tells-daily-wire-trump-will-use-full-might-of-government-to-crush-cartels?topStoryPosition=undefined">full might</a>” of the federal government to crush the cartels.
“We’re not just going to attack them on the southern border, we’re going to attack them across the globe,” Homan told The Daily Wire Backstage Live ahead of Trump’s Tuesday night address to Congress. “We’re going to use the full might of the federal government to take them out.”
One of the first and most important ways to cripple the cartels, Homan explained, is to cut off their funding by securing the southern border and preventing them from smuggling drugs and people into the United States. “If they don’t have money, they don’t have power,” Homan explained. “We’re going to shut them down one piece at a time.”

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Trump: It Is Time For America To ‘Wage War On The Cartels’

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Border Czar Tom Homan says President Trump will use the &#8220;full might&#8221; of the federal government to crush the drug cartels.
“We’re not just going to attack them on the southern border, we’re going to attack them across the globe,” Homan said on Daily Wire Backstage Live ahead of Trump&#8217;s Tuesday night address to Congress. “We’re going to use the full might of the federal government to take them out.” The Trump administration official went on to detail the scope of the crisis, noting that the cartels have a presence in every major American city.
“This is the biggest national security vulnerability I’ve seen in my lifetime,” he said of the millions of illegal aliens that had been allowed to enter and stay in the United States under the previous administration.
Homan joined Daily Wire Backstage to tout Trump’s success on the southern border. His comments came as President Trump has taken a wide range of actions to secure the southern border and enforce federal immigration law to deport illegal aliens already present in the United States.
“What he did in three weeks the Biden administration failed to do in four years,” Homan told The Daily Wire hosts before going on to celebrate the steep decline in illegal border crossings into the United States. “We’ve had the lowest border numbers in history of the United States border, and that’s not an exaggeration … President Trump did that in four weeks, so imagine what he is going to do in the next 47 months.”
Trump signed an executive order on his first day in office to designate the Mexican drug cartels as foreign terror organizations, a move that Homan said will allow the federal government to crush the cartels and free Mexico from the control of the violent criminal entities.
He also explained that the first step to crippling the cartels was to eliminate their funding through border security measures that cut off cartel smuggling routes. “If they don’t have money, they don’t have power,” he noted, pointing out that cartels lose the ability to pay off politicians and law enforcement once their revenue stalls.
“We’re going to shut them down one piece at a time. What President Trump did designating them foreign terrorist organizations is the first step to wiping these cartels off the face of this earth,” Homan said before adding that Mexico will be “more grateful than anybody” because “Mexico doesn’t want to be under the control of the cartels.
He also explained that the Biden administration willfully opened the border, allowing the cartels to rake in cash from their transnational human and drug smuggling operations.
“This administration knew how to fix it, they just didn’t choose to fix it,” he said of the Biden administration, adding that the Democrat didn’t simply mismanage the border but instead “ran on open borders,” Homan charged. “No one celebrated that election more than criminal cartels. They knew they were back in business.”
Daily Wire Host Michael Knowles and Homan took a playful jab at congressional Democrats after Knowles joked that the Trump administration official might be able to deport politicians who attempt to disrupt the 47th president’s speech tonight.
“Don’t tempt me,” Homan said.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/michaeljknowles?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@michaeljknowles</a>: &#8220;Democrat lawmakers are planning to interrupt this speech with all sorts of noisemakers and make a general nuisance of themselves &#8230; would it be possible for you to deport them as well?
HOMAN: &#8220;Don&#8217;t tempt me.&#8221;
😂 <a href="https://t.co/yINyipFyO7">pic.twitter.com/yINyipFyO7</a>
— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDailyWire/status/1897106176262938719?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 5, 2025</a></blockquote>
But Homan explained that he’s been sparring with Democrats over immigration and deportations. Democrats like <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/aoc-admits-she-was-openly-advising-illegals-on-how-to-avoid-law-enforcement">Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez</a> (D-NY) and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/nevada-attorney-general-helps-chinese-illegal-aliens-dodge-deportation">Nevada Attorney General</a> Aaron Ford have told illegal aliens how they might be able to avoid deportations.
“I can’t believe that any member of Congress wants to educate an illegal alien, who has been convicted of a serious offense, who has an order of removal, and they want to educate them on how to evade arrest? Homan fumed. “To me they ought to resign from their position as a member of Congress.”
Homan turned his attention to other politicians who’ve worked to prevent the deportation of illegal aliens. The Trump administration official also added that politicians who lead sanctuary jurisdictions and knowingly harbor illegal aliens could be subject to prosecution by Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Homan closed by thanking members of Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. “These are the men and women on the border 24/7” and who wear a “kevlar vest and a gun on their hip” as they bust illegal aliens in sanctuary cities.

Homan Backstage

Tom Homan Tells Daily Wire: Trump Will Use ‘Full Might’ Of Government To Crush Cartels

Tom Homan

An illegal alien captured at Colony Ridge, the Texas development that’s systematically attracted illegal aliens, is believed to be connected to a violent Mexican drug cartel, The Daily Wire has learned.
A spokeswoman for the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) told The Daily Wire that at least one of the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/3-illegal-aliens-arrested-after-344-pounds-of-meth-found-in-colony-ridge">three illegal aliens</a> caught and deported earlier this month in a traffic stop is believed to have ties to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, a violent criminal organization that traffics drugs and people across the southern border and into the United States.
The entity is <a href="https://www.state.gov/designation-of-international-cartels/">now classified</a> as a Foreign Terror Organization due to an executive order from President Donald Trump.
The bust of those three illegal aliens resulted in the seizure of 344 pounds of meth that one of the illegal aliens, Cruz Isidro Sandoval, was keeping in a trailer on his Colony Ridge property just north of Houston. The DEA spokeswoman did not specify which of the three illegal aliens is suspected to be tied to the cartel.
The revelation further confirms The Daily Wire&#8217;s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/inside-colony-ridge-the-fastest-growing-development-in-the-u-s-is-a-magnet-for-illegal-immigrants">reporting</a> that Colony Ridge has become a magnet for illegal aliens, including those operating on behalf of the cartels. It also confirms the suspicion of Todd Bensman, Senior National Security Fellow for the Center for Immigration Studies. When asked if it would be possible for an illegal alien to obtain and traffic nearly 350 pounds of meth without ties to the cartels, Bensman responded with a simple and resounding “nope.”
Known in Mexico as Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG), the Department of Justice has <a href="https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/justice-treasury-and-state-departments-announce-coordinated-enforcement-efforts-against">referred</a> to the criminal entity as “one of the most powerful cartels in Mexico” and “one of the five most dangerous transnational criminal organizations in the world.”
The CJNG, the State Department <a href="https://www.state.gov/designation-of-international-cartels/">says</a>, has launched “attacks on Mexican military and police with military grade weaponry, the use of drones to drop explosives on Mexican law enforcement, and assassinations or attempted assassinations of Mexican officials.
The cartel profits off a number of different criminal enterprises, including the trafficking of drugs like meth, heroin, cocaine, and fentanyl into the United States. The arrest of the three illegal aliens came just before the Department of Homeland Security and the Texas Department of Public Safety launched a joint operation targeting the illegal aliens inside the Colony Ridge development.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement <a href="https://x.com/ICEgov/status/1894485344923652152">reported</a> that 118 illegal aliens had been captured in Monday’s operation, noting that Colony Ridge is “known for its cartel activity and illegal alien population.”
“Charges and convictions of those arrested include criminal sexual conduct, homicide, theft, negligent manslaughter, child sexual abuse, crimes of moral turpitude, weapons offenses and drug offenses,” ICE went on to note.
Among those captured was an <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/previously-deported-ms-13-member-leads-authorities-on-manhunt-in-colony-ridge">MS-13 member</a> and El Salvadoran national who had been deported on seven different occasions. The illegal alien is believed to have fatally stabbed a man before leading authorities on a seven-hour manhunt that resulted in his arrest.
Authorities also arrested 39-year-old Florentin Chevez-Luna, another El Salvadoran national who had been deported three times. An ICE spokesman told The Daily Wire that he “was arrested by ICE and Texas DPS pursuant to a criminal arrest warrant for alleged repeated sexual abuse of a minor over an eight-year period from November 2008 to November 2016.”

Liberty County Sheriff’s Office

EXCLUSIVE: Illegal Alien Captured At Colony Ridge Believed To Be Tied To Mexican Drug Cartel

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Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum proposed constitutional reforms to safeguard Mexico’s sovereignty after the Trump administration designated six drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, prompting concerns about potential U.S. military action across the border.
“The Mexican people will not accept under any circumstances interventions, interference or any other act from abroad that could be harmful to the integrity, independence and sovereignty of the nation,” she <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/world/fearing-trump-cross-border-militarily-pursue-cartels-mexico-moves-reform-constitution" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>, per Fox News.
Sheinbaum seeks to enshrine current limits on the operations of foreign agents into the constitution and establish harsher penalties for gun trafficking. “What we want to make clear in the face of this designation is that we do not negotiate sovereignty,” she said.
Sheinbaum said Mexico was not consulted when the Trump administration designated the cartels as foreign terrorist organizations.
Historically, terrorist designations against criminal syndicates have sparked debates over national sovereignty and whether such moves could justify extended actions by the U.S. government abroad. In this case, observers have noted that tensions between the two neighbors could escalate if Washington believes it now has broader authority to operate against any cartel activity in Mexican territory.
The new designation, which goes into effect on Thursday, identifies a total of six Mexican organizations in addition to prior targets, widening a list that encompasses Sinaloa, Jalisco, Zetas, Gulf Cartels, Cartel Unidos, and “La Nueva Familia Michoacana.” Other criminal entities — including the Venezuelan group Tren de Aragua and the Salvadoran gang Mara Salvatrucha, also known as MS-13 — were also named.
While some of these cartels have long been notorious for drug trafficking and violence, the terrorist label opens the door to further U.S. legal action against individuals and networks that aid or abet their operations.
Sheinbaum’s predecessor, Former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, previously signed into law limits on foreign agents in Mexico, requiring approval from the Mexican government for every action taken. Sheinbaum plans to strengthen these rules by cementing them into the Mexican Constitution.
In her announcement, Sheinbaum cited the need to crack down on arms trafficking, an issue Mexican and American experts have linked to the strength of cartels operating within the country. The new proposed reform applies severe penalties to foreigners involved in the assembling, smuggling, and distribution of guns.
Sheinbaum’s party holds majorities in both chambers of Congress and has already passed several constitutional reforms.

MEXICO-US-POLITICS-ARMY

Fearing U.S. Military Action Against Cartels, Mexico Moves To Reinforce Sovereignty Laws

Border Crisis

Global Politics

World

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is flying MQ-9 Reaper drones over Mexico as part of President Donald Trump&#8217;s efforts to revamp the war against transnational drug cartels.
CNN <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/18/politics/cia-drone-missions-mexico-drug-cartels/index.html">reported</a> that the move comes as the administration has deployed significant resources to the southern border to stop illegal aliens and drugs from pouring into the United States at the unprecedented rate experienced during the Biden administration.
The unarmed drones are currently only conducting spy missions against the cartels. The CIA can arm the drones and use them against foreign enemies, which it has often done when fighting Islamic terrorists in the Middle East and Africa.
The administration is treating the cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO), a designation that it has not yet formally made but likely will in the coming weeks, which could lay the groundwork for using the drones to kill top cartel leaders and destroy manufacturing sites.
The CIA said in a statement that “countering drug cartels in Mexico and regionally is a priority for CIA as a part of the Trump Administration’s broader efforts to end the grave threat from narco-trafficking. Director [John] Ratcliffe is determined to put CIA’s unique expertise to work against this multifaceted challenge.”
Mexican officials, powerless to counter the vastly larger and more powerful U.S. government, have downplayed the CIA drones flying over Mexico, claiming that they do &#8220;not violate national airspace,&#8221; according to Defense Minister Ricardo Trevilla.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum did not resist the notion of drones flying over Mexican airspace to fight the cartels.
&#8220;The important thing here, I think, in the declaration, which is what we have always proposed, is that they share information with the Government of Mexico,&#8221; she said.
Trump’s top goals for the agency revolve around trade wars, undermining communist China, and destroying the drug cartels.
The president was asked the day after he was sworn into office if he would consider &#8220;sending U.S. special forces into Mexico&#8221; to take out the cartels.
“Could happen,” Trump said with a large grin on his face. “Stranger things have happened.”
<iframe loading="lazy" title="‘Stranger Things Have Happened’: Trump Flashes A Giant Grin When Asked About Cartels" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/t_XT3hPxbT0?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/senate-confirms-john-ratcliffe-as-trumps-cia-director">Senate Confirms John Ratcliffe As Trump’s CIA Director</a>

Reaper Aircraft Flies Without Pilot From Creech AFB

CIA Operating Reaper Drones Over Mexico In War Against Drug Cartels

Drones

AUSTIN, Texas – The chosen political slogan of Mexico’s last and current president, “Abrazos, no balazos” (“<a href="https://apnews.com/general-news-f4c29ad0e3014ca3a4cffccfe4cac1d4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Hugs, not Bullets”),</a> is often embraced to describe official government policy toward the country’s ultra-violent drug-trafficking cartels. The beauty of this slogan is that it requires no explanation.
The reverse, however, “Bullets, not Hugs,” is probably up next whether Mexico likes it or not. President Donald Trump has just forced Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum to capitulate to a threat of ruinous 25% trade tariffs on Mexican exports unless she uses military force to suppress the flow of fentanyl (and illegal immigrant smuggling) over the U.S. southern border. She’s deploying 10,000 troops to cartel country, right smack in the drug-trafficking lanes of Mexico’s far northern precincts along the U.S. border.
This deployment of Mexican troops, however, is quite different from previous ones, in which the main mission was to slow illegal immigration only, including during Trump’s first term and throughout the Biden term. For this one, the Trump mission demand is, as State Department Spokeswoman Tammy Bruce <a href="https://www.state.gov/secretary-rubios-call-with-mexican-foreign-secretary-de-la-fuente/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">put it recently</a>, that Mexico needs to “&#8230;dismantle transnational criminal organizations, halt illegal migration, and stem the flow of fentanyl and precursor chemicals from China.”
That American priority has just put Mexican forces in the crosshairs of the most sensitive cartel hotspot: the blood-soaked zone between heavily armed cartel forces and their money just across the U.S. border.
<div id="attachment_873419" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-873419" class="size-large wp-image-873419" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2198146140-1-864x576.jpg" alt="CIUDAD JUAREZ, MEXICO - FEBRUARY 06: Mexican National Guard patrol along the U.S.-Mexico border on February 06, 2025 near Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. Advance units of troops deployed to the border under orders of Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened tariffs on Mexican goods. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2198146140-1-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2198146140-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2198146140-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2198146140-1.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />John Moore/Getty Images</div>
As if this was not provocative enough on its own, a senior Trump official with direct knowledge told me bilateral plans call for at least some of the more trusted of Mexico’s forces to physically attack cartel-run narcotics depots that would include pre-smuggling fentanyl hubs inside Mexico.
Certain U.S. intelligence groups are working with the Mexican government “to give them an exact laydown. They say they’re going to target the narcotics. We’re literally still at the table.”
All of this should prove triggering, literally, to any of Mexico’s nine main cartels once the whole enterprise ramps up in earnest.
I have a good feel for what this set of circumstances portends. As a reporter for Hearst News in San Antonio, Texas, from 2006-2009, <a href="https://www.toddbensman.com/category/archives/other-border-security-coverage/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">I regularly covered the exceptionally bloody civil drug war</a> against the cartels that Felipe de Jesus Calderón Hinojosa (2006-2012) declared and which, after hundreds of thousands of Mexican casualties, spawned the popularly preferred “Hugs, not Bullets” policies of his successors. <a href="https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/mexicos-long-war-drugs-crime-and-cartels" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The U.S. partnered with Mexico throughout the war</a>, providing targeting intelligence and billions of dollars to modernize its security forces. All of that was for a quest to stem the flow of illegal drugs into the United States.
But after six years of ferocious combat and widespread torture and assassination, Mexico retreated in almost total defeat. The drug flow may have dipped from time to time but it never stopped.
In the years since, I’ve often pondered whether Calderón and his successors should have trebled down when defeat seemed inevitable, as did former President George W. Bush during the Iraq war. When the chips were down amid calls for a humiliating U.S. withdrawal during the Iraq war, Bush famously turned the tables by deploying 30,000 more troops. With Mexico, however, disrupting fentanyl production and trafficking with the military will not be easy, and may very well spark another government-cartel war similar to 2006-2012.
<div id="attachment_873423" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-873423" class="size-large wp-image-873423" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2198146249-864x576.jpg" alt="CIUDAD JUAREZ, MEXICO - FEBRUARY 06: Mexican troops patrol the U.S.-Mexico border on February 06, 2025 near Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. Advance units of soldiers deployed to the border under orders of Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened tariffs on Mexican goods. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2198146249-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2198146249-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2198146249-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2198146249.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />John Moore/Getty Images</div>
The stars and planets all seem to be aligning for more violence, including from an unexpected quarter: President Sheinbaum herself may be aching for this fight.
Rodrigo Nieto-Gomez, a Mexico-born and educated national security research professor for the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California said Sheinbaum has installed anti-cartel Morena Party hardliners over much of Mexico&#8217;s state security apparatuses. This wing of her party, Nieto-Gomez explained, has been spoiling to shed the &#8220;Hugs, not bullets&#8221; policy for a good hard fight with the cartels.
Trump is now providing a &#8220;top-cover&#8221; excuse for them to finally exert the military pressure they&#8217;ve been wanting.
&#8220;Trump&#8217;s actions have temporarily tilted the playing field in favor of Morena,&#8221; Nieto-Gomez said. &#8220;With the right philosophy and the right level of American support, we may see a different type of violence in Mexico.&#8221;
Perhaps a worthy achievable goal for Mexican military fireworks is that it forces a sort of devil’s truce where the cartels, whose leaders are the most consummate and pragmatic of capitalists, ultimately agree to voluntarily quit fentanyl altogether as a good business decision — if the other drugs are allowed to roll in as usual. After all, when the operatives are shooting and dying, they’re spending rather than earning.
What seems certain, however, is that Trump’s inevitable following through on his campaign promises to suppress fentanyl ups the chances of a conflict between the Mexican military and the cartels. No doubt the cartels are now feeling uncharacteristically pinched these days on many other fronts thanks to Trump’s return. 
<div id="attachment_873425" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-873425" class="size-large wp-image-873425" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2198145991-864x576.jpg" alt="CIUDAD JUAREZ, MEXICO - FEBRUARY 06: Mexican National Guard patrol the U.S.-Mexico border on February 06, 2025 near Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. Advance units of troops deployed to the border under orders of Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened tariffs on Mexican goods. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2198145991-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2198145991-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2198145991-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2198145991.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />John Moore/Getty Images</div>
Trump has asked his Secretary of State to designate them as foreign terrorist organizations, which would open authorities for America and its allies to seize assets and prosecute banks and people who work with the cartels on serious “material support” crimes. To isolate and weaken them where it counts, in the pocketbook, and disrupt their global operations.
And, of course, Trump has all but killed the biggest cash cow those cartels have seen in years by shuttering the southern border almost hermetically in a matter of days. Their smugglers are moving probably fewer than 500 illegal immigrants a day now, most of them caught and deported right away, compared to 14,000 a day last December. Those numbers are a catastrophe and should drive the cartels to invest everything they have in drug trafficking again.
Because they are now free from babysitting and processing illegal migrants all day long, Border Patrol is back on the drug traffickers full force and they have help, the U.S. military is down there glassing the landscape and using surveillance assets to spot the traffickers.
Some of the cartels were already so frustrated their leaders approved the use of drones to attack U.S. agents standing in the way of drug loads. Cases of firearms attacks on Border Patrol are rising.
Now Mexico’s going to put 10,000 troops in between them and their money?
If she is not already, Sheinbaum should be preparing for the worst right about now. President Trump absolutely expects some kind of real action — with demonstrable results — or else he’ll push that tariff button. She’s under pressure right now to produce something, anything, whether for show or not. And the cartels are ever ready to go to war.
Thanks to former President Joe Biden’s mass migration program, it could very well happen, because now the impulsive, brazen, money-hungry cartels are are extremely <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11563659/Mexicos-cartels-getting-rich-powerful-Bidens-mass-migration-crisis-TODD-BENSMAN.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">well-armed from the billions they all earned</a> over the past four years.
<div id="attachment_873427" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-873427" class="size-full wp-image-873427" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2198145781.jpg" alt="CIUDAD JUAREZ, MEXICO - FEBRUARY 06: Mexican National Guard troops patrol the bank of the Rio Grande at the U.S.-Mexico border on February 06, 2025 near Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. Advance units of troops deployed to the border under orders of Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened tariffs on Mexican goods. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)" width="1024" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2198145781.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2198145781-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2198145781-768x432.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />John Moore/Getty Images</div>
Sheinbaum undoubtedly discerns the dangers here and will have to tread carefully between appeasing Trump and sparking another all-out civil war, which many in the United States believe is long overdue. And maybe it is. She and all the cartel leaders would probably feel lucky to cap things down to merely a “splendid little war” like the 1898 Spanish-American war.
But President Trump knows the art of the deal often pivots on what’s good business for everyone involved.
Mexico’s 2006-2012 war shows the cartels will more than likely survive whatever fireworks are coming, if any. Trump may make them realize sooner rather than later that they just have to give up the fentanyl.
* * *
Todd Bensman is a Senior National Security Fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies and a two-time <a href="https://www.toddbensman.com/awards/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">National Press Club award winner.</a> He is a graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism and a 23-year veteran newspaper reporter. He is the author of “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Americas-Covert-Border-War-Infiltration/dp/1642937258/ref=sr_1_2?crid=BP7S7BH2VBFB&amp;dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.O6ZnUZYfSlVsoiHcdjPhFHfMHLUTDwW2ZnKSAJboBbE5kdYf_h7sD08-h6YkTqOaoX3BwNswbUMPbnTbwQYA0OPgQiI3nLoLjosQWsEhFf5KFAPB4F0DTwUsSoJFgmaEF7V1rMQnOPvLvOLapFQ1ESD-D7UVwCNHsSGEs2XzEa9rmO1CLoVV277SrmlPOkJf.15UkCaAoqCyd7hpP16dl7D3_ZWawrd1RcN3D_ZSFo4w&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;keywords=todd+bensman&amp;qid=1730314546&amp;s=books&amp;sprefix=todd+bensman%2Cstripbooks%2C100&amp;sr=1-2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">America’s Covert Border War</a>,” and “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Overrun-Unleashed-Greatest-Border-History-ebook/dp/B0BS1R9LCP?ref_=ast_author_dp" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Overrun: How Joe Biden Unleashed the Greatest Border Crisis in U.S. History</a>.”
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Mexican Military Deploys On US-Mexico Border Following Trump Tariff Threats

Will Mexico Face A Hot Shooting War With The Cartels?

President Trump

Southern Border

An internal memo revealed that Mexican cartel leaders authorized kamikaze drone attacks against U.S. Border Patrol personnel, escalating tensions amid the increased federal efforts to secure the southern border.
According to a report by the New York Post, the newly <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/02/03/us-news/mexican-cartels-order-suicide-drone-attacks-on-border-patrol/">revealed</a> memo warns that cartel leaders are equipping drones with explosives to target U.S. Border Patrol and Department of Defense personnel. The document urges agents “to remain cognizant of their surroundings at all times” as federal authorities bolster border security.
The memo, titled “Officer Safety Alert,” also instructs agents to carry first aid supplies and swiftly report drone sightings, noting that rifles “should be readily available.” Social media posts linked to the cartels have reportedly encouraged even more aggressive actions, including threats against law enforcement and interference with official vehicles.
These threats come after President Trump deployed 1,500 troops to the southern border, with plans to expand the number to 10,000 to reinforce immigration enforcement at the border. Border czar Tom Homan led deportation raids across the nation aimed at criminal migrants, with a <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/ice-trump-deportations-numbers-rcna188937">reported</a> 1,200 deportations in just one day. 
“It is recommended that all US Border Patrol agents and DoD personnel working along the border report any sighting of drones to their respective leadership staff and the EPT-IOC,” the memo continues.
Cartels have been using drones to great effect against law enforcement in Mexico, with DroneXL <a href="https://dronexl.co/2025/02/03/mexican-cartels-drone-warfare-border-patrol/">reporting</a>, &#8220;In 2023, over 260 drone-dropped bomb incidents were reported in Mexico, resulting in injuries to 42 security personnel.&#8221;
Beyond this tactic, online postings have revealed additional steps intended to undermine law enforcement by cartels
Some messages openly advocate harmful and demeaning acts aimed at federal agents, including directives to “spit and urinate” in Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials’ meals, “defecate” in their vehicles, and target them with assassins, <a href="https://www.newsnationnow.com/us-news/immigration/ice-agents-escalating-threats-violence/">reported</a> News Nation. 
Regardless of the potential cartel retaliation, the Trump administration remains committed to preventing illicit narcotics and human trafficking via the southern border, while taking steps to protect CBP personnel and U.S. law enforcement officers Tom Homan said.

Texas Department Of Public Safety Patrols Border Along Rio Grande River

Leaked Memo Exposes Cartel Plans For Drone Strikes And Attacks On U.S. Agents

President-elect Donald Trump bloodied Mexico and Canada with diplomatic buckshot <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/113546215051155542" target="_blank" rel="noopener">earlier this week</a> by writing that, on his first day in office, he’ll levy devastating <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-unveils-tariff-ultimatums-against-canada-mexico-and-china" target="_blank" rel="noopener">25% trade tariffs</a> on those two U.S. neighbors if they fail to crack down on illegal immigration and drug trafficking.
Much public puzzlement has filled international media coverage over why Trump would single out Canada for punishment equal to that of the far guiltier Mexico. 
“To compare us to Mexico is the most insulting thing I’ve ever heard from our friends and closest allies, the United States of America,” <a href="https://apnews.com/article/canada-trump-tariffs-mexico-12e925cfc44432140d0a776503e095ae" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ontario Premier Doug Ford said.</a> “I found his comments unfair. I found them insulting. It’s like a family member stabbing you right in the heart.” 
“We shouldn’t confuse the Mexican border with the Canadian border,” Canadian Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said.
But this narrative seems intended to deflect public acknowledgement of what the liberal progressive government of Justin Trudeau did in fact do to draw Trump’s tariff ire. In terms of immigration policy, the Canadian offenses are indeed much different from Mexico’s open super-highway mass migration wave-throughs during the Biden-Harris years. But Canada’s policies have, arguably, damaged U.S. national security and public safety interests in harmful ways that media outlets on both sides rarely report.
<h3>Canada’s Massive Legal Immigration Program As A U.S. National Security Threat </h3>
Much of the damage arises from an historic <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-63643912" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Canadian legal immigrant importation program</a> of unprecedented scope. Since the program’s 2021 implementation, the Great White North has imported some 1.5 million foreign national workers (400,000+ per year for a country of 38 million) from dozens of developing nations and hundreds of thousands of <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-67964674">foreign students in 2023 alone</a> – making it another record-breaking year.
Why are those programs a U.S. problem? Because a spiking number of foreign nationals are apparently abusing the Canadian programs as a lily pad from which to illegally enter the United States between northern border land ports of entry, among them <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/us/suspected-terrorist-from-jordan-arrested-us-northern-border-ice">proven threats</a> to U.S. national security and public safety.
Why this traffic leaking into the United States is a problem – even though the total numbers illegally entering from Canada are small relative to those crossing from Mexico – arises from the fact that many hail from Muslim-majority nations and have, Canadian media reports, fueled a <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/canadas-jihadi-crisis-should-worry-america-opinion-1961520" target="_blank" rel="noopener">spate of terrorism</a> and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trudeau-blasted-for-dancing-while-montreal-burned-during-anti-semitic-riot" target="_blank" rel="noopener">anti-Semitic attacks</a> throughout Canada. In addition, far too many of the Mexicans Canada has allowed in turned out to be cartel drug traffickers and killers.
These are the kinds of criminals crossing the U.S. northern border in increasing numbers due to Canadian policies — policies Canada could address if it wanted to.
Consider that U.S. Border Patrol apprehensions in the brush between U.S.-Canada land ports of entry jumped from 2,238 in 2022 to 23,721 in 2024, neatly coinciding with Trudeau’s mass legal immigration programs.
Among those crossing illegally from Canada, for instance, were 15,827 Indian nationals in 2023 and 2024, 8,367 Mexicans, and 3,833 from unspecified countries listed only as “Other” on the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s public statistics website.
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<h3>A Border-Crossing Terror Plot Foiled</h3>
Concerns on both sides of the northern border have been simmering for some years as Canadians witness newcomers carrying out <a href="https://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/en/news/2024/father-and-son-arrested-terrorism-offences">terror plots</a>, actual attacks, and perhaps some of the record-breaking nearly <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/bnai-brith-antisemitic-report-record-high-1.7195197" target="_blank" rel="noopener">6,000 antisemitic incidents</a> Canada has logged since the Israel-Hamas war broke out.
What’s been happening in Canada was obvious to many.
“Canada has become a hotbed of radicalization, fanaticism, and jihadism,” wrote Casey Babb, Senior Fellow with the Macdonald-Laurier Institute in <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/canadas-jihadi-crisis-should-worry-america-opinion-1961520" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Newsweek shortly after the arrest</a>. “As un-Canadian as it sounds, Canada has a terrorism crisis on its hands and that should worry the United States for a whole host of reasons.”
<a href="https://macdonaldlaurier.ca/isis-and-its-violent-central-asian-chapter-are-threatening-canada-and-the-west-with-jihad-are-we-ready-to-fight-back-hussain-ehsani-for-inside-policy/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Concern</a> would reach an apogee in October 2024, when a joint U.S.-Canadian counterterrorism operation thwarted a plot by a Pakistani student <a href="https://cis.org/Bensman/Meanwhile-Northern-Border-Jihadist-Attack-New-York-Thwarted" target="_blank" rel="noopener">on a Canadian visa</a> to illegally cross the northern border to conduct an October 2024 massacre of Jews in New York.
Muhammad Shahzeb Khan, a 20-year-old Pakistani citizen legally issued a Canadian student visa in June 2023, <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/pakistani-national-charged-plotting-terrorist-attack-new-york-city-support-isis-0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">now stands accused</a> in U.S. federal court of plotting an illegal-smuggler-assisted northern border crossing to carry out a mass shooting of Jews in New York City to celebrate with blood the October 7 anniversary of the Hamas massacre in Israel. Khan hoped it would go down in history as “the largest U.S. attack since 9/11.”
“We are going to nyc (sic) to slaughter them” with AR-style rifles and hunting knives “so we can slit their throats,” Khan told an undercover FBI agent he believed to be a co-conspirator, according to <a href="https://www.justice.gov/d9/2024-09/u.s._v._khan_complaint_0.pdf?utm_medium=email&amp;utm_source=govdelivery" target="_blank" rel="noopener">an agent complaint</a>. “Even if we don’t attack an event we could rack up easily a lot of Jews.”
His was among the record-breaking <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-67964674" target="_blank" rel="noopener">400,000 foreign student visas</a> Canada issued in 2023.
That alarming new terrorism prosecution in New York State should have been enough to renew Trump’s interest in turning diplomatic pressure onto Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau’s mass legal immigration policies and border security on its side.
But terrorists cannot be the only concern.
<h3>Mexican Cartel Killers And Traffickers In Canada Crossing Too</h3>
The incoming Trump administration will need to force resolution of another issue regarding U.S. public safety concerns dating back to an especially damaging 2016 Trudeau move that did great harm until it was addressed just recently. Trudeau <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/news/2016/12/canada-lifts-visa-requirement-mexico-1.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">rescinded 2009 visa requirements</a> on Mexican citizens and against the <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/mexico-visa-restrictions-lifting-three-amigos-1.3648757" target="_blank" rel="noopener">advice of his own government</a>. Mexican criminals would abuse the policy to fly in at will and bedevil both Canadian and northern American cities.
That all began in early 2017. A sustained surge was underway of Mexican nationals who, unable to easily cross the southern border under Trump 1.0, were flying over the United States into Canada. They would claim Canadian asylum and cross southward over the less tended northern U.S. border.
Among them were the predicted Mexican cartel operatives.
Leaked Canada Border Services Agency <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/3578905/justin-trudeau-mexican-visa-more-criminals/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">intelligence reports</a> said Mexican &#8220;drug smugglers, human smugglers, recruiters, money launders and foot soldiers&#8221; were turning up in greater numbers than ever before. The cartels went to work building human smuggling networks to move other Mexicans south over the American border, just as they did all along the southern border.
In July 2017, Global News quoted <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/3578905/justin-trudeau-mexican-visa-more-criminals/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the intelligence reports</a> saying the ultra-violent Sinaloa cartel had turned up in Canada to &#8220;facilitate travel to Canada by Mexicans with criminal records.&#8221; Others identified included La Familia Michoacana, Jalisco New Generation, and Los Zetas.
For instance, whereas the reports said 37 Mexicans linked to organized criminal groups had entered between 2012 and 2015, 65 involved in &#8220;serious crimes&#8221; were identified midway through just 2017, compared to 28 in 2015. By May 2019, at least <a href="https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/trnsprnc/brfng-mtrls/prlmntry-bndrs/20200621/fp001/index-en.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noopener">400 Mexican criminals</a> connected to drug trafficking, including sicario hitmen, were plying their trades in Canada, at least half of them in Quebec, according to a May 24, 2019, report in the <a href="https://torontosun.com/news/crime/100s-of-drug-cartel-members-have-entered-canada-since-liberals-waived-mexican-visa-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Toronto Sun</a> and other Canadian <a href="https://tnc.news/2019/05/25/canadian-authorities-have-lost-track-of-400-mexican-hit-men-and-drug-traffickers/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">media outlets</a>.
All had entered through the Trudeau visa loophole for Mexicans.
By the end of 2019, Canada saw a <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-mexican-ambassador-cautions-against-re-imposing-visas-to-address/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">1,400% spike</a> in the number of bogus Mexican <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/4042075/mexico-refugee-claims-spike-visa-lift/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">refugee claims</a>, the vast majority naturally rejected, and of associated <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-canada-immigration-mexico-detention/canadas-detention-of-mexicans-surges-after-visa-lift-idUSKBN1942IW" target="_blank" rel="noopener">detentions</a>.
<h3>Canada Finally About To Face The Music</h3>
Only in February 2024 did the Americans pressure the Canadians to finally <a href="https://apnews.com/article/canada-mexico-visa-requirement-59cf64c5d74271cb2e3f40970ffb4786" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reimpose some visa restrictions</a> on Mexicans — though not all. Now, only Mexicans who already <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/canada-will-reinstate-some-visa-requirements-mexicans-says-cbc-2024-02-28/">hold a U.S. visa</a> or old Canadian one can travel visa-free, while most other Mexicans with neither will have to apply for a Canadian one.
The damage is already done, but there&#8217;s always a chance Trudeau could revert to visa-free once again.
From January to mid-October 2022, for instance, 7,698 Mexican asylum seekers took direct flights from Mexico City to Montreal, according to <a href="https://nationalpost.com/pmn/news-pmn/canada-news-pmn/the-number-of-mexican-asylum-seekers-in-canada-has-increased-dramatically">a November 2022 Canadian Press story</a>.
The paper quoted officials at nonprofit refugee assistance groups attesting that most fly to Canada because they found out Trudeau’s visa-free policy also got them government financial assistance while awaiting their mostly denied asylum applications.
In their October 2021 book, &#8220;<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Wolfpack-Millennial-Mobsters-Canadian-Underworld/dp/0735275394" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Wolfpack: The Millennial Mobsters Who Brought Chaos and the Cartels to the Canadian Underworld</a>,&#8221; journalists Peter Edwards and Luis Najera established that the Sinaloa Cartel now <a href="https://insightcrime.org/news/how-mexican-cartels-settled-canada/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">has a foothold</a> across eastern Canada, with “solid control of cocaine shipments in and out of Canada.” The Arellano Felix group has its foothold in Vancouver and in the state of Alberta.
The Zetas are in Canada “involved with temporary migrant workers.”
Asked in 2023 if Canada’s importance to Mexican organized crime had increased “in recent years,” co-author Luis Najera answered: “I would say it has increased since criminal cells moved up north to settle and expand operations here. It is also strategic to have groups operating north of the U.S. border, close to key places such as Chicago and New York, and without the scrutiny of the DEA and rival groups.”
Canada is not Mexico but its policies pose consequences for the United States.
Any normal U.S. administration would put Canada on the hook for adjusting its policies and more robustly guarding its supposedly treasured neighboring ally, the United States, from harm. If punishing trade tariffs finally focus Canada’s attention on those policy-driven harms, let them last until Canada fixes what it recklessly broke.
* * *
Todd Bensman is a Senior National Security Fellow, Center for Immigration Studies and a two-time <a href="https://www.toddbensman.com/awards/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">National Press Club award winner.</a> He is a graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism and a 23-year veteran newspaper reporter. He is the author of “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Americas-Covert-Border-War-Infiltration/dp/1642937258/ref=sr_1_2?crid=BP7S7BH2VBFB&amp;dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.O6ZnUZYfSlVsoiHcdjPhFHfMHLUTDwW2ZnKSAJboBbE5kdYf_h7sD08-h6YkTqOaoX3BwNswbUMPbnTbwQYA0OPgQiI3nLoLjosQWsEhFf5KFAPB4F0DTwUsSoJFgmaEF7V1rMQnOPvLvOLapFQ1ESD-D7UVwCNHsSGEs2XzEa9rmO1CLoVV277SrmlPOkJf.15UkCaAoqCyd7hpP16dl7D3_ZWawrd1RcN3D_ZSFo4w&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;keywords=todd+bensman&amp;qid=1730314546&amp;s=books&amp;sprefix=todd+bensman%2Cstripbooks%2C100&amp;sr=1-2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">America’s Covert Border War</a>,” and “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Overrun-Unleashed-Greatest-Border-History-ebook/dp/B0BS1R9LCP?ref_=ast_author_dp" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Overrun: How Joe Biden Unleashed the Greatest Border Crisis in U.S. History</a>.”
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

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'Proven Threats To U.S. National Security': Canada, Cartels, And Trump's Tariffs

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Former President Donald Trump said during an interview this week that airstrikes against Mexican drug cartels are &#8220;absolutely&#8221; on the table if Mexico does not rapidly put an end to the fentanyl pouring into the U.S.
Trump made the remarks during an interview with Fox News host Jesse Watters broadcast on Tuesday after being asked if he would still follow through on the idea pushed by Republicans during the presidential primaries.
&#8220;Absolutely,&#8221; Trump said. &#8220;Mexico is going to have to straighten it out really fast or the answer is, absolutely. They&#8217;re killing 300,000 people a year with fentanyl coming in.&#8221;
The former president highlighted China&#8217;s role in the fentanyl epidemic, saying that all of the precursors to make the drug come to Mexico directly from Chinese manufacturers.
&#8220;And China, by the way, will do what they have to do,&#8221; he said. &#8220;They&#8217;re gonna do it just like I had to deal with President Xi. But then Biden never took it over, that we&#8217;re gonna give the death penalty to anybody sending fentanyl our way. And that was part of my negotiation. They never did it because nobody forced it on our side.&#8221;
&#8220;Death penalty for drug dealers, death penalty for people that send fentanyl into our country,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;And that would have made a big difference. But you know what happened? Nothing because when Biden came in, nothing happened. And I don&#8217;t know why he&#8217;s so soft on China, but boy is soft on China.&#8221;
He added that Mexico will be given &#8220;a very short period of time&#8221; to control the situation, or they will face consequences from the U.S.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
WATTERS: Are strikes against the cartels still on the table?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Absolutely. <a href="https://t.co/3rywIej7FC">pic.twitter.com/3rywIej7FC</a>
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) <a href="https://twitter.com/TrumpWarRoom/status/1815910972697240022?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 24, 2024</a></blockquote>

Donald Trump And J.D. Vance Hold First Joint Campaign Rally After The RNC

Trump: Military Strikes Against The Mexican Drug Cartels ‘Absolutely’ On The Table

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