Jan 2 (Reuters) &#8211; A powerful earthquake shook southern Mexico on Friday, sending millions scrambling after the New Year holiday and briefly interrupting President Claudia Sheinbaum’s daily press conference.
The 6.5-magnitude quake struck near the Pacific coast in Guerrero state at a depth of 35 km (22 miles), the U.S. Geological Survey said. Guerrero is just south of Mexico City.
There were no immediate reports of injuries or serious damage in Guerrero, Sheinbaum and the state&#8217;s governor both said.
Sheinbaum was speaking in Mexico City when earthquake alarms sounded. She noted the ground was shaking beneath her before calmly evacuating alongside journalists. Sheinbaum resumed the press conference shortly afterward.<iframe style="aspect-ratio: 16/9; width: 100%; margin: 20px auto 5px; border: 0;" src="https://player.mux.com/Zh00CeSqDcV18TjliLlptizOnhXEHqkw6?metadata-video-content-type=embed_video&amp;metadata-video-id=7f8a9ad7-9bfd-4a80-bc5a-f8ad98e0a1bf&amp;metadata-video-stream-type=on-demand&amp;metadata-video-title=2026-01-02%3A%20Southern%20Mexico%20Earthquake&amp;autoplay=false&amp;accent-color=%23DB3D3B&amp;primary-color=%23ffffff&amp;secondary-color=%23000000" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
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Credit: Reuters
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She said no damage had been reported in Mexico City, where residents fled their homes and sounds of nervous dogs barking filled the streets.
Guerrero is home to Acapulco and other resort areas, which are a major draw for holiday tourists. Acapulco is still recovering from a Category 5 hurricane that devastated the area in 2023.
(Reporting by Mexico City newsroom, Nilutpal Timsina in Bengaluru; Editing by Emily Green and Howard Goller)

Reuters

Strong Earthquake Jolts Southern Mexico, Sends People Scrambling During President’s Press Conference

Claudia Sheinbaum

earthquake

Mexico

The Trump administration has stripped at least 50 Mexican politicians of their visas, saying the officials have ties to drug cartels.
While previous administrations have taken similar actions, the Trump administration is revoking visas at an unprecedented scale, Reuters <a href="https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/us-revokes-visas-over-50-mexican-politicians-new-drug-war-front-2025-10-14/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>.
President Donald Trump’s previous acting Drug Enforcement Administration Administrator Derek Maltz told The Daily Wire that there’s “a long history of the cartels relying on corrupt officials and politicians in Mexico to advance their criminal goals.”
“Travel to America, the greatest country in the world, is a privilege, not a right. Travel visas for individuals are not automatic and I&#8217;m glad to see that the State Department is scrutinizing them at a new level,” he said.
“Nobody should be surprised that this administration is looking outside the box and will use all capabilities to make it difficult for the cartels to continue to kill Americans at record levels,” he added.
A senior State Department official told The Daily Wire that the Trump administration has had “a good working relationship” with the Mexican government led by President Claudia Sheinbaum and looks “forward to continuing to advance our bilateral relationship in the interest of the America first foreign policy agenda.”
Visas can be revoked for many reasons, including violations of American law, overstaying permissions, corruption, drug trafficking, acting as an agent of the Chinese Communist Party, espionage, aiding illegal immigration, the official said. However, the official didn’t confirm the visa revocations.
The Trump administration has prioritized efforts to counter drug cartels and has taken out 27 alleged “narcoterrorists” in kinetic strikes on multiple vessels traversing international waters that were believed to be transporting deadly drugs.
The War Department carried out such a strike off the coast of Venezuela Tuesday morning, taking out six alleged drug traffickers.
“Unprecedented death and destruction to American communities and families requires unprecedented action by the United States government,” said Maltz.
The cartels’ control over Mexican administrations has increased in recent years as presidents shy away from fighting the narcotraffickers, according to a 2024 <a href="https://www.texaspolicy.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/2025-01-RR-SST-Abrazos-no-Balazos-The-Mexican-State-Cartel-Nexus-update-1.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> by the Texas Public Policy Foundation. An estimated 35% to 40% of Mexico is controlled by the drug cartels.

MixCollage-05-May-2025-07-30-AM-9035

Trump Admin Pulls Visas From 50 Mexican Officials Over Cartel Ties

Cartels

Donald Trump

Drug Cartels

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum responded on Friday after a report from The New York Times stated that President Donald Trump had quietly signed an order to use military force against drug cartels in foreign countries.
Sheinbaum, who previously rejected an offer from Trump for the U.S. military to help fight the drug cartels, said on Friday, “The United States is not going to come to Mexico with the military.&#8221; The Mexican president added that U.S. officials had given her a heads-up that Trump&#8217;s directive &#8220;was coming,&#8221; according to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/08/world/americas/mexico-trump-military-cartels.html">The New York Times</a>.
&#8220;We cooperate, we collaborate, but there is not going to be an invasion,&#8221; she continued. &#8220;That is ruled out, absolutely ruled out,” she said. “It is not part of any agreement, far from it. When it has been brought up, we have always said no.”
Sheinbaum said that she was assured by the United States that Trump&#8217;s order would not include sending troops into Mexico. The directive reportedly singles out Latin American drug cartels that are designated as foreign terrorist organizations, but it was not immediately clear which specific cartels or transnational gangs the Trump administration would pursue under the new directive.
Mexico has been overrun by numerous violent drug cartels for decades, and most of the drug cartels listed by the United States as terrorist organizations primarily operate in Mexico. Two transnational criminal gangs, Tren de Aragua (TdA) and Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), which have been designated as foreign terrorist organizations, have cells in Central America, according to the State Department. The Trump administration also recently designated the Venezuelan Cartel de los Soles as a terrorist organization.
After pressure from Trump earlier this year, Sheibaum reportedly deployed hundreds of troops to fight the Sinaloa Cartel — one of Mexico&#8217;s most powerful — with the group suffering significant losses. U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ronald Johnson <a href="https://x.com/USAmbMex/status/1951085207123272145">said</a> last month that U.S. fentanyl seizures were down and Mexico fentanyl seizures were on the rise &#8220;thanks to increased collaboration&#8221; between the two countries.
&#8220;Under [President Trump&#8217;s] and President [Sheinbaum&#8217;s] leadership, cartels are going bankrupt and our countries are safer because of it,&#8221; Johnson added.
Trump has used tariffs as a negotiating tool to pressure Mexico into helping the United States secure the border and crack down on illegal immigration and drug trafficking. The president has also deployed U.S. troops and drones to patrol the southern border. Trump&#8217;s actions have led to the <a href="https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/national-media-release/most-secure-border-history-cbp-reports-major-enforcement-wins-june#:~:text=Border%20Enforcement%20at%20Historic%20Levels,27%2C766%20released%20in%20June%202024">lowest level</a> of illegal border crossings ever recorded by Customs and Border Protection.

Mexican President Says U.S. Military Will Not Fight Drug Cartels On Its Soil

Military

Politics

Trump Administration

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;

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

Drugs

Executive

Fentanyl

President Donald Trump is pressuring Mexico to allow the United States military to get further involved in the fight against drug cartels, The Wall Street Journal <a href="https://www.wsj.com/world/americas/trump-mexicos-sheinbaum-spar-over-drug-cartels-f3aae16c" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> on Friday.
The Journal, citing &#8220;people familiar with the discussions,&#8221; reported that a 45-minute phone call between Trump and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on April 16 got heated after Trump pushed for the U.S. military to lead in the fight against cartels. Sheinbaum reportedly was not willing to allow the United States to take direct military action against the cartels inside Mexico.
Trump has made fighting the cartels a top priority of his goal to secure the southern border and stop the flow of fentanyl into the United States, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-it-is-time-for-america-to-wage-war-on-the-cartels" target="_blank" rel="noopener">vowing</a> to &#8220;wage war on the cartels&#8221; and designating them as foreign terrorist organizations. Shortly after his April 16 phone call with Sheinbaum, Trump told Fox News&#8217; Spanish-speaking network that “Mexico is very, very afraid of the cartels.”
“We want to help her. We want to help Mexico, because you can’t run a country like that. You just can’t,” he added.
According to the <a href="https://www.dea.gov/sites/default/files/2024-05/NDTA_2024.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Drug Enforcement Administration</a>, &#8220;The deadly reach of the Mexican Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels into U.S. communities is extended by the wholesale-level traffickers and street dealers bringing the cartels’ drugs to market, sometimes creating their own deadly drug mixtures, and exploiting social media and messaging applications to advertise and sell to customers.&#8221;
After Trump designated numerous cartels as terrorist organizations, Sheinbaum pushed for a constitutional reform to further protect Mexico&#8217;s sovereignty, Reuters <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/mexico-was-not-consulted-us-designation-cartels-terrorist-organizations-2025-02-20/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>.
&#8220;The Mexican people will under no circumstances accept interventions, intrusions, or any other action from abroad that are detrimental to the integrity, independence, or sovereignty of the nation&#8230; (including) violations of Mexican territory, whether by land, sea, or air,&#8221; the Mexican president said.
The Trump administration has reportedly considered using drone strikes against cartels in Mexico, and Trump&#8217;s border czar Tom Homan <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/tom-homan-tells-daily-wire-trump-will-use-full-might-of-government-to-crush-cartels" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> The Daily Wire in March that Trump would &#8220;use the full might of the federal government to take them out.&#8221;
“We’re not just going to attack them on the southern border, we’re going to attack them across the globe,&#8221; Homan added.
Trump is negotiating with Mexico on two fronts, seeking to increase military cooperation while also pushing for a trade deal with the country. The president slapped a 25% tariff on Mexico on February 1, pushing the country to do more to stop fentanyl trafficking and secure its border with the United States. After Mexico was hit with the tariff, Sheinbaum agreed to send 10,000 troops to the border.

Trump Pressures Mexico To Allow U.S. Military To Lead Fight Against Drug Cartels

Crime

U.S.

On Tuesday, as the tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump on Mexican, Canadian, and Chinese imports took effect, leftist Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum <a href="https://apnews.com/article/trade-war-mexico-trump-9cefdded035a0b35e700a7ba0bfc34b4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> Mexico would retaliate with tariffs on U.S. exports, following the lead of Canada and China.
Sheinbaum said she would delineate which products Mexico would target, adding that the U.S. had no reason for imposing tariffs on its largest trading partners.
“There is no motive or reason, nor justification that supports this decision that will affect our people and our nations,” she said. “It’s inconceivable that they don’t think about the damage this is going to cause to United States citizens and businesses with the increase in prices for things produced in our country. Also the damage it will cause by stopping job creation in both countries. No one wins with this decision.”
Trump’s tariffs impose a 25% tax on Mexican and Canadian imports.
On Monday, the White House issued a <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/03/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-proceeds-with-tariffs-on-imports-from-canada-and-mexico/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fact sheet</a> regarding the tariffs in which it stated that the Mexican government had cooperated with the vicious drug cartels of Mexico. The fact sheet declared:
<blockquote>
Mexican drug trafficking organizations, the world’s leading fentanyl traffickers, operate unhindered due to an intolerable relationship with the government of Mexico. The government of Mexico has afforded safe havens for the cartels to engage in the manufacturing and transportation of dangerous narcotics, which collectively have led to the overdose deaths of hundreds of thousands of American victims. 
Cartel violence, including armed drones and roadside IEDs, are coming in closer and closer proximity to the U.S.-Mexico border as cartels are more actively targeting one another as well as Mexican military and law enforcement personnel.
This alliance with the Mexican government endangers the national security of the United States, and we must eradicate the influence of these dangerous cartels.
</blockquote>
The fact sheet also noted, “There is also a growing presence of Mexican cartels operating fentanyl and nitazene synthesis labs in Canada. &#8230; Both nations’ failure to arrest traffickers, seize drugs, or coordinate with U.S. law enforcement constitutes an unusual and extraordinary threat to America’s security—demanding IEEPA action to force accountability and protect American lives.”
Sheinbaum called the fact sheet “offensive, defamatory and without support,” adding, “We collaborate to avoid illegal drug trafficking to the United States, but as we have said on multiple occasions, that country’s government must take responsibility too for the crisis of opioid consumption that has caused so many deaths in the United States.”

Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum Briefing Conference

Leftist Mexican President Says She’ll Retaliate Against U.S. Tariffs, Following Canada And China

Canada

China

Economy

Tariffs

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?

Border Crisis

President Trump

Southern Border

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/canada" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Canada</a> and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/mexico" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mexico</a> announced tariffs against the United States on Saturday in retaliation for a slate of new import duties President Donald Trump ordered against the U.S. neighbors and China.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Saturday that Canada is working with Mexico to push back against Trump’s tariffs. Trump ordered increased tariffs on goods from Canada, China, and Mexico over lack of sufficient action against human and drug trafficking that has poured into the U.S.
“I think Canadians understand that we need to respond to this,” said Trudeau, who is expected to leave office in a matter of weeks after stepping down as his party’s leader. “We’re certainly not looking to escalate, but we will stand up for Canada.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
LIVE: Canada’s response to U.S. tariffs | EN DIRECT : Réplique aux tarifs douaniers américains <a href="https://t.co/JQ7HfwwCCW">https://t.co/JQ7HfwwCCW</a>
&mdash; Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) <a href="https://twitter.com/JustinTrudeau/status/1885879140446011591?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 2, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Trump issued his own <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/113934450227067577">statement</a> on his social media platform Truth Social on Sunday condemning his critics and supporters of “the decades long RIPOFF OF AMERICA, both with regard to TRADE, CRIME, AND POISONOUS DRUGS that are allowed to so freely flow into AMERICA. THOSE DAYS ARE OVER!”
Trump ordered 25% tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico, with a lesser 10% tariff hike on Canadian energy imports. Trump also ordered a 10% additional tariff on Chinese goods. In return, Canada and Mexico announced their own 25% tariffs on a slate of U.S. goods.
Canada and Mexico are at a stark disadvantage in the brewing trade war with the United States, with their combined gross domestic product equaling about a seventh of the United States’. The United States also receives a significant majority of the exports from both countries, roughly three-quarters, according to <a href="https://www.wsj.com/economy/trade/canada-mexico-want-america-to-feel-the-pain-of-tariffs-too-f8119ccd?mod=hp_lead_pos1">The Wall Street Journal</a>.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum issued her own statement on social media <a href="https://x.com/Claudiashein/status/1885857655094415528">denouncing</a> the tariffs and claiming that Trump falsely accused the Mexican government of having ties to criminal cartels.
Chinese precursor chemicals have flowed into Mexico where drug cartels manufacture addictive and deadly drugs such as fentanyl that is trafficked into the United States, the White House said.
“In addition, the Mexican drug trafficking organizations have an intolerable alliance with the government of Mexico. The government of Mexico has afforded safe havens for the cartels to engage in the manufacturing and transportation of dangerous narcotics, which collectively have led to the overdose deaths of hundreds of thousands of American victims,” a White House fact sheet on Trump’s tariff order <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/02/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-imposes-tariffs-on-imports-from-canada-mexico-and-china/">says</a>.
Mexican drug cartels have a growing presence in Canada that is contributing to the flood of human trafficking and drugs that is surging into the United States as well, according to the White House.

Donald Trump, Justin Trudeau

Canada, Mexico Slap Tariffs On U.S. After Trump Uses Trade To Force Border Security

Global Politics

Justin Trudeau

United States

Far-left Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum refused to acknowledge President Donald Trump&#8217;s new executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the &#8220;Gulf of America,&#8221; claiming that the world would not acknowledge it.
“So what corresponds to the continental shelf of the United States, which they call the ‘Gulf of America,’ for us is still the Gulf of Mexico,” she said. “And for the whole world, it will continue to be the Gulf of Mexico.”
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum rejects President Donald Trump’s renaming of the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America” <a href="https://t.co/R4QzhBFL8j">pic.twitter.com/R4QzhBFL8j</a>
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) <a href="https://twitter.com/RealSaavedra/status/1881745270800887894?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 21, 2025</a></blockquote>
Trump announced during his inauguration speech on Monday that the Gulf of Mexico would be renamed to the &#8220;Gulf of America,&#8221; then signed an executive order directing the U.S. Secretary of the Interior to make the change on federal maps.
The president first announced his intentions to rename the Gulf of Mexico earlier this month while discussing corruption in Mexico.
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“We have a massive deficit with Mexico and we help Mexico a lot,” Trump said. “They’re essentially run by the cartels. And we can’t let that happen. Mexico is really in trouble. A lot of trouble. A very dangerous place.”
Trump said at the time that in the near future, his administration would be “changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.”
“The Gulf of America. What a beautiful name!” Trump said. “And it’s appropriate. It’s appropriate.”
Trump said the U.S. has the right to do it because “we do most of the work there, and it is ours.”

President-Elect Sheinbam Receives Election Majority Certificate

Mexico’s President Refuses to Acknowledge ‘Gulf Of America’

Executive Orders

Gulf of Mexico

President-elect <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/donald-trump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Donald Trump</a> said on Wednesday evening that he had a &#8220;wonderful conversation&#8221; with far-Left Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum about what the two can do to fix the illegal immigration and drug problem in Mexico that is impacting the U.S.
The conversation comes after Trump threatened to slap heavy tariffs on Mexico if the country did not get its act together in combatting the drug cartels, who are also large drivers of the illegal immigration problem in the U.S.
&#8220;She has agreed to stop Migration through Mexico, and into the United States, effectively closing our Southern Border,&#8221; Trump said. &#8220;We also talked about what can be done to stop the massive drug inflow into the United States, and also, U.S. consumption of these drugs. It was a very productive conversation!&#8221;
Trump said that Mexico would stop migrants headed to the border &#8220;effective immediately,&#8221; which he said would &#8220;GO A LONG WAY TOWARD STOPPING THE ILLEGAL INVASION OF THE USA.&#8221;
He added that when he takes over in January, his administraiton will be launching a &#8220;large scale&#8221; advertising campaign warning the American public about the dangers of fentanyl.
&#8220;By the time the Campaign is over, everyone will know how really bad the horror of this Drug is,&#8221; he said.
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Sheinbaum wrote in her own statement that the conversation with Trump was &#8220;excellent&#8221; and that they also discussed &#8220;strengthening collaboration on security issues within the framework of our sovereignty and the campaign we are carrying out in the country to prevent the consumption of fentanyl.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Tuve una excelente conversación con el presidente Donald Trump. Abordamos la estrategia mexicana sobre el fenómeno de la migración y compartí que no están llegando caravanas a la frontera norte porque son atendidas en México.
También hablamos de reforzar la colaboración en… <a href="https://t.co/PlGS5w3ZpC">pic.twitter.com/PlGS5w3ZpC</a>
— Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo (@Claudiashein) <a href="https://twitter.com/Claudiashein/status/1861886965248934033?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 27, 2024</a></blockquote>

US-VOTE-POLITICS-TRUMP

Trump: Mexico’s President Vows To Stop Illegal Immigration To U.S. Southern Border

Illegal Immigration

Far-Left Mexican President <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/claudia-sheinbaum" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Claudia Sheinbaum</a> threatened to impose tariffs on the United States in a letter addressed to President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday as she blamed her country&#8217;s problems on the U.S.
Sheinbaum&#8217;s letter came in response to Trump saying in a statement on Monday that the U.S. would impose a 25% tariff on Mexico and Canada until they stopped drugs and illegal aliens from reaching America&#8217;s borders.
The 62-year-old threatened in her letter that &#8220;for every tariff, there will be a response in kind, until we put at risk our shared enterprises.&#8221;
She said that &#8220;dialogue is the best path&#8221; to resolving problems facing the two nations.
&#8220;Even so, it is clear that we must work together to create a new labor mobility model that is necessary for your country, as well as address the root causes that compel families to leave their homes out of necessity,&#8221; she claimed. &#8220;If even a small percentage of what the United States allocates to war were instead dedicated to building peace and fostering development, it would address the underlying causes of human mobility.&#8221;
She claimed that Mexico has &#8220;consistently expressed its willingness to help prevent the fentanyl epidemic in the United States from continuing,&#8221; even though the Mexican government has failed to deliver any kind of significant results. She correctly noted that the precursor chemicals arrive in Mexico from countries overseas, but she failed to name the main culprit — China — opting instead to say they come from &#8220;Asian countries.&#8221;
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She blamed the violence in her country on weapons that come from America. &#8220;We do not produce these weapons, nor do we consume synthetic drugs,&#8221; she said. &#8220;Tragically, it is in our country that lives are lost to the violence resulting from meeting the drug demand in yours.&#8221;
She claimed that Mexico had reduced the number of illegal aliens reaching the U.S. southern border by 75% and that half of those who do arrive do so using the Biden administration&#8217;s CBP One App.
&#8220;For these reasons, migrant caravans no longer arrive at the border,&#8221; she claimed, after more than 10 million illegal aliens entered the U.S. southern border from Mexico over the last few years.
Former Acting Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Chad Wolf said earlier this year that the Biden administration was masking the true number of illegal aliens entering the U.S. by using the CBP One App.
&#8220;In June 2024, the Biden-Harris Administration said Border Patrol apprehended 84,000 illegal aliens&#8211;allegedly the lowest since they took office,&#8221; Wolf said in a post on X. &#8220;But there is MUCH MORE to this story.&#8221;
Wolf then explained what the administration was not telling the public.
&#8220;In addition to the 84,000 illegal crossings in June: 1⃣ 47,000 illegal aliens were encountered at ports of entry, using the CBP One app to schedule their unlawful entry,&#8221; he posted on X. &#8220;2⃣ Approximately 56,000 &#8216;gotaways&#8217; evaded Border Patrol and disappeared into American communities.&#8221;
&#8220;3⃣ Approximately 30,000 illegal aliens from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela were provided parole and allowed to fly into the country through their preferred airport,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;Altogether, around 215,000 illegal aliens unlawfully crossed our borders in June—not 84,000—which the Biden-Harris Administration wants you to believe.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
In addition to the 84,000 illegal crossings in June:
1⃣ 47,000 illegal aliens were encountered at ports of entry, using the CBP One app to schedule their unlawful entry. 
2⃣ Approximately 56,000 “gotaways” evaded Border Patrol and disappeared into American communities. 
3⃣…
— Chad Wolf (@ChadFWolf) <a href="https://twitter.com/ChadFWolf/status/1823771997429702959?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 14, 2024</a></blockquote>

Far-Left Mexican President Threatens U.S., Blames U.S. For Mexico’s Problems

World

Claudia Sheinbaum, the former mayor of Mexico City, was elected as Mexico’s first female president on Sunday.
Sheinbaum, of the Morena party and the heir-apparent to President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), won 58.6% of the votes with 73% of the ballots counted, Mexico’s election agency reported.
Candidate Xóchitl Gálvez garnered 28.4% of the vote and conceded defeat, while Jorge Álvarez Máynez, from the center-left Citizen Movement, won 10.6% of the vote. Galvez <a href="applewebdata://CFABA400-A5CA-40BC-96DF-222A409BD3D5/v">warned</a>, &#8220;I want to stress that my recognition (of Sheinbaum&#8217;s victory) comes with a firm demand for results and solutions to the country&#8217;s serious problems.&#8221;
“Morena and its allies also appeared headed for a two-thirds majority in Congress needed to make constitutional changes without opposition support,” The Wall Street Journal reported<a href="https://www.wsj.com/world/americas/mexico-election-vote-results-af55cbce?mod=hp_lead_pos8">,</a> adding that it was the “first time a Mexican leader will have such a large congressional majority since the early 1990s.”
In an attempt to reassure voters that her newfound power would not become autocratic, Sheinbaum stated, “We are democrats and out of conviction would never be an authoritarian or repressive government.”
But Carlos Elizondo, a professor of government at the Tecnológico de Monterrey university, warned, “This is the worst scenario that could have happened.”
“If I’m an investor, I’m thinking these guys just got a blank check and what’s going to happen,” political analyst Antonio Ocaranza said. “López Obrador wants to complete his agenda and take the political cost of those decisions while leaving Sheinbaum a blank slate to begin.”
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In May 2023, López Obrador had stated he was supporting a campaign to get Hispanics, especially Mexican-Americans, <a href="https://thehill.com/latino/4020967-mexican-president-tells-florida-hispanics-dont-give-one-single-vote-to-desantis/">not to vote</a> for Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, as well as attacking Texas GOP Governor Greg Abbott, saying, “The governor of Texas, campaigning, [saying] he will militarize the border and that he will continue building [the] wall; and the governor of Florida, the same, because he wants to be the Republican Party candidate and he’s politicking.”
The Heritage Foundation <a href="https://www.heritage.org/americas/commentary/the-influence-lopez-obrador-the-internal-politics-the-united-states">reported</a> in June 2023 of López Obrador (AMLO), “Mexico’s president is also saying that he wants to cut a deal with his country’s powerful cartels, which already control parts of the country that AMLO’s government supposedly governs. These cartels are responsible for producing deadly drugs that have caused more than <a href="https://nida.nih.gov/research-topics/trends-statistics/overdose-death-rates#:~:text=Figure%201.,illicit%20drugs%20and%20prescription%20opioids." data-external="yes">100,000 overdose</a> deaths in the United States.
Sheinbaum, 62, is Jewish. Her grandparents fled Eastern Europe before World War II. She is not religiously observant.

Claudia Sheinbaum, Virtual Winner Of Mexico's Presidency

Claudia Sheinbaum Elected President Of Mexico

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador

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