The Trump administration identified three Mexican financial institutions that it says are complicit in laundering funds on behalf of criminal cartels that traffic fentanyl into the United States.
Two banks and one brokerage firm, which collectively manage $22 billion in assets, were identified by the Treasury Department on Wednesday as key players in the cartels’ fentanyl trafficking operations. The federal agency specifically accused the three institutions of laundering millions of dollars on behalf of the cartels and facilitating payments for the precursor chemicals for fentanyl, and now prohibits American financial institutions from carrying out certain transactions to and from the three Mexican institutions.
“Financial facilitators like CIBanco, Intercam, and Vector are enabling the poisoning of countless Americans by moving money on behalf of cartels, making them vital cogs in the fentanyl supply chain,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sb0179">charged</a>.
“Through the first use of this powerful authority, today’s actions affirm Treasury’s commitment to using all tools at our disposal to counter the threat posed by criminal and terrorist organizations trafficking fentanyl and other narcotics.”
The Treasury Department specifically explained that a CIBanco employee authorized the creation of an account by a Gulf Cartel member who purportedly intended to launder $10 million. The executive agency also warned that the bank has a “long-standing pattern of associations, transactions, and provision of financial services” with the Gulf Cartel, Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), and the Beltran-Leyva Cartel.
Intercam executives are believed to have met with CJNG members to discuss money laundering schemes, which included processing transactions to and from China. Mexican companies also used Intercam to send more than a million dollars to a Chinese company with ties to an individual who shipped fentanyl precursor chemicals to Mexico.
Vector is similarly believed to assist in the procurement of those precursor chemicals on behalf of both the Gulf and Sinaloa Cartels. The federal agency asserts that a money launderer working on behalf of the Sinaloa Cartel moved $2 million through Vector from 2013 to 2021.
The move marks another step in the Treasury’s campaign to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-treasury-official-reveals-how-the-trump-admin-is-choking-off-cartels-cash-flow?author=Spencer+Lindquist&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=EXCLUSIVE%3A+Treasury+Official+Lays+Out+How+Trump+Is+Choking+Off+Cash+Flow+To+Cartels">choke off funds</a> from the criminal cartels. The agency has unveiled numerous sanctions against leaders and personnel from the Sinaloa Cartel, Tren de Aragua, and Cartel del Noreste.
“If the money is not flowing back south, then there’s less of an incentive to bring the drugs and the guns and some of the illicit activity up to the north,” Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Michael Faulkender told The Daily Wire.

Fentanyl

Trump Admin Sets Sights On Mexican Banks Laundering Fentanyl Cash For Cartels

Border

cartel

Department of the Treasury

drug cartel

Mexico

Treasury

The Trump administration’s Department of the Treasury on Wednesday announced sanctions on leaders of a ruthless Mexican drug cartel in a move that the federal agency says will hinder the organization’s drug trafficking operations.
The sanctions targeted five key figures of the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG), a vicious criminal enterprise that produces illicit drugs and traffics them into the United States.
“CJNG’s reign of terror across Mexico and its trafficking of fentanyl into the United States has destroyed countless innocent lives,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sb0169">said</a>. “The United States remains strongly committed to leveraging all available tools to degrade the capacity of CJNG and other cartels to flood our streets with dangerous drugs and perpetrate heinous acts of violence against civilians.”
Any property held by the five cartel members in the United States will now be frozen and reported to the federal government.
The Treasury Department described the organization as “a brutally violent cartel responsible for a significant share of fentanyl and other illicit drugs entering the United States,” adding, “It uses murder as a tactic to intimidate rivals, including sending messages to other cartels through the targeted killings of women.”
CJNG’s founder and leader, Ruben Oseguera Cervantes, known as “El Mencho,” was among the five men targeted.
“Under Oseguera’s direction, CJNG operatives have assassinated rivals, Mexican law enforcement, judges, and other government officials,” the Treasury Department noted, also pointing out that Oseguera’s leadership allowed the cartel to “function like a franchise business across several Mexican states,” allowing the criminal enterprise to spread across the country and rake in billions of dollars from the drug trade.
The Treasury also sanctioned Julio Alberto Castillo Rodriguez, who it identified as a senior CJNG member and the son-in-law of Oseguera. Castillo, believed to be a possible successor to Oseguera, operates a port in southwestern Mexico that the cartel uses to import fentanyl precursors.
Another target, Gonzalo Mendoza Gaytan, is known to recruit new CJNG members and train them at Izaguirre Ranch, a facility in the Mexican state of Jalisco, according to the Trump administration. Mendoza “directed lieutenants to train new CJNG recruits and kill those who defied instructions” and “has also been involved in the murder of numerous law enforcement officers,” the Treasury Department said.
The Treasury hit two more CJNG operatives, Audias Flores Silva and Ricardo Ruiz Velasco, with sanctions. Flores is a regional CJNG commander over several Mexican states and oversees laboratories that produce methamphetamine, while Ruiz runs the CJNG’s propaganda wing. Ruiz is also believed to have killed his girlfriend during a live social media broadcast.
The flurry of sanctions comes after the Treasury Department previously unveiled similar sanctions against members of the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trumps-treasury-dept-launches-sanctions-targeting-sinaloa-cartel">Sinaloa Cartel</a> and <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sb0146">Cartel de Noreste</a>. Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Michael Faulkender told The Daily Wire in an <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-treasury-official-reveals-how-the-trump-admin-is-choking-off-cartels-cash-flow?author=Spencer+Lindquist&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=28&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=EXCLUSIVE%3A+Treasury+Official+Lays+Out+How+Trump+Is+Choking+Off+Cash+Flow+To+Cartels">exclusive interview</a> that the sanctions are a key tool in the Trump administration’s fight against the Mexican drug cartels.
“If the money is not flowing back south, then there’s less of an incentive to bring the drugs and the guns and some of the illicit activity up to the north,” he explained.

CJNG Graffiti

Treasury Dept Sanctions Five Key Leaders Of Mexican Drug Cartel

Crime

Drug Cartels

Scott Bessent

Treasury Department

World

The United States partnered with European authorities to shut down one of the world’s largest darknet drug trafficking websites, which is also one of the few online marketplaces for fentanyl.
American officials partnered with Europol, the European Union’s law enforcement agency, to shut down Archetyp Market, which authorities say had trafficked at least $290 million worth of drugs to more than 600,000 users over five years.
A law enforcement coalition that included the national police forces of several European nations and multiple American agencies conducted a three-day operation across five countries. Officers seized Archetyp Market infrastructure in the Netherlands and arrested a 30-year-old German administrator in Barcelona.
One Archetyp Market moderator and six of the market’s highest vendors were also apprehended, along with around $9 million in assets.
“With over 17,000 listings, it is one of the few darknet markets that allowed the sale of fentanyl and other highly potent synthetic opioids,” <a href="https://www.europol.europa.eu/media-press/newsroom/news/europe-wide-takedown-hits-longest-standing-dark-web-drug-market" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Europol</a> wrote on its website.
The operation required “years of intensive investigative work” to “map the platform’s technical architecture and identify the individuals behind it.” Law enforcement achieved this by “tracing financial flows, analysing digital forensic evidence, and working closely with partners on the ground.”
&#8220;With this takedown, law enforcement has taken out one of the dark web&#8217;s longest-running drug markets, cutting off a major supply line for some of the world&#8217;s most dangerous substances.&#8221; Jean-Philippe Lecouffe, deputy executive director of operations at Europol, stated, per Reuters.
&#8220;By dismantling its infrastructure and arresting its key players, we are sending a clear message: there is no safe haven for those who profit from harm.”
All that’s left of the site is a seizure banner and a link to “Operation Deep Sentinel,” a <a href="https://operation-deepsentinel.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">video</a> warning any remaining users that “Everything comes to an end.”

New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman Announces Large Heroin Bust

United States, Europe Shut Down Major Dark Web Fentanyl Market

Drugs

European Union

United States

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt lit up The Washington Post during Tuesday&#8217;s briefing, shining a spotlight on what she called &#8220;one of the most ridiculous headlines ever&#8221; on the topic of drug seizures at the U.S.-Mexico border.
The article she highlighted was headlined, &#8220;The mysterious drop in fentanyl seizures on the U.S.-Mexico border,&#8221; and it purported to outline the &#8220;complex&#8221; reasons behind the fact that fentanyl seizures had plummeted in recent weeks. Leavitt argued that the reasons were neither complex nor mysterious, saying, as President Donald Trump has, that it could all be chalked up as the obvious result of the American people electing a different president.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/PressSec?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@PressSec</a> slams the Fake News Washington Post: &#8220;There is no mystery about why there is a decrease of fentanyl coming into the United States. This Administration&#8217;s strong border policies are the reason!&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/RJlWO7EyWp">pic.twitter.com/RJlWO7EyWp</a>
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1929951219130221006?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 3, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;The Washington Post just ran one of the most ridiculous headlines ever — even by their standards,&#8221; Leavitt began. &#8220;And on my very first briefing, several months ago, I said I would hold anyone accountable in this room. The Washington Post actually had this headline: &#8216;The mysterious drop in fentanyl seizures on the U.S.-Mexico border.'&#8221;
<a href="https://get.dailywire.com/subscribe/plus/?utm_medium=website&amp;utm_source=editorial&amp;utm_campaign=memorial&amp;utm_content=editorialmemorialday&amp;_gl=1*1qdq03s*_gcl_au*MTYyNDg0MTE0OS4xNzQxODk4NTMz*_ga*MTEzOTk1NjkxNi4xNzI2MzI1MDQz*_ga_CZKR9ZYKJP*czE3NDgzNzg2NDgkbzEwMDMkZzEkdDE3NDgzODEwMTckajU4JGwwJGgw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Get 40% Off New DailyWire+ Annual Memberships</a>
&#8220;How is this mysterious?&#8221; Leavitt asked. &#8220;There is no mystery about why there is a decrease in fentanyl coming into the United States. This administration&#8217;s strong border policies are the reason there has been a decrease in fentanyl trafficking. [Trump&#8217;s] strengthened relationship with Mexican President Sheinbaum and all of the measures he has been taking to deter illegal human and drug trafficking at our United States southern border is the reason for plummeting fentanyl seizures at the U.S. border. There is nothing mysterious about that, and we&#8217;d like to see The Washington Post update their headline accordingly.&#8221;
Leavitt went on to say that the White House had provided WaPo with a lengthy list of the Trump administration policies that had brought about the drop in fentanyl seizures at the border, but that the outlet had refused to include them.
&#8220;This [is] clearly trying to intentionally manipulate the minds of the – Americans — and I think the American people understand why there&#8217;s been a fentanyl drop,&#8221; Leavitt said. &#8220;That&#8217;s despicable.&#8221;

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt

‘There Is No Mystery’: Karoline Leavitt Lights Up WaPo Over ‘Ridiculous’ Fentanyl Headline

'There Is No Mystery': Karoline Leavitt Lights Up WaPo Over 'Ridiculous' Fentanyl Headline

border security

Donald Trump

Karoline Leavitt

Media

Politics

Washington Post

WASHINGTON—A nationally recognized crime analyst says 2025 may see the lowest murder rate ever recorded, and the White House is touting the news as evidence of President Donald Trump&#8217;s tough-on-crime policies.
“Since President Trump took office, murder rates have plummeted across the entire United States,&#8221; White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement Tuesday morning.
&#8220;American families were promised their communities would be safer and President Trump swiftly delivered by vocally being tough on crime, unequivocally backing law enforcement, and standing firm on violent criminals being held to the fullest extent of the law,&#8221; she added.
Her remarks come after analyst Jeff Asher, <a href="https://www.ahdatalytics.com/about-us/">co-founder</a> of AH Datalytics, <a href="https://jasher.substack.com/p/how-2025-could-feature-the-lowest">found more than</a> a 20% decrease in murders from 2024, including murders down 31.6% in Baltimore, 34.5% in St. Louis, 36.8% in Cleveland, 63% in Denver, 30.6% in New Orleans, 26.8% in New York, and 23.7% in Chicago.
<div style="width: 1250px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F35d1e759-47b9-44c2-aa2a-08a6b7a8a664_1240x1996.png" alt="Jeff Asher crime statistics, Substack. " width="1240" height="1996" />Jeff Asher, Substack.</div>
Asher hedges that the trend could &#8220;regress back towards a more normal rate of decline,&#8221; but he still argues that &#8220;it’s fairly clear that a decline in the direction we’re currently seeing would safely give 2025 the title of lowest US murder rate ever recorded.&#8221;
Rafael Mangual, a Manhattan Institute fellow and member of the Council on Criminal Justice, told The Daily Wire that there are a number of factors behind the drop in homicides, including &#8220;depopulation in urban America, more police activity across the country, an increase in the incarceration rate over the last couple of years, as well as the fact that, the homicide spikes and shooting spikes took a lot of would-be shooters off the street permanently.&#8221; 
Homicide rates in the United States rose in 2020, peaked in 2021, and have steadily fallen since.
Trump has made fighting crime a major goal of his second term, particularly in Washington, D.C. Violent crime rose 33% in the nation&#8217;s capital in 2023, making it Washington&#8217;s <a href="https://thespectator.com/topic/donald-trump-move-fast-break-things-tactic-washington-dc-safer/">deadliest year</a> in two decades. Violent crime <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/violent-crime-dc-hits-30-year-low">dropped</a> 35% between 2023 and 2024, likely the result of the appointed U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia deciding to ramp up prosecutions towards the end of his term.
On the campaign trail, Trump said he would &#8220;take over our horribly run” capital, a promise he delivered on in March, when he signed an <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/making-the-district-of-columbia-safe-and-beautiful/">executive order</a> creating the “D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force.&#8221; The task force is directed to combat crime and restore public order by clearing homeless encampments and cracking down on lower-level offenses like turnstile jumping and public urination.
But Trump&#8217;s efforts to restore public order have gone beyond Washington, as well. His administration&#8217;s crackdown on illegal crossings at the southern border has led to the largest <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/feds-make-largest-fentanyl-bust-in-history-arrest-illegal-alien-with-ties-to-deadly-cartel?author=Spencer+Lindquist+and+Mary+Margaret+Olohan&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Feds+Make+Largest+Fentanyl+Bust+In+History%2C+Arrest+Illegal+Alien+With+Ties+To+Deadly+Cartel">fentanyl bust</a> in history, and his Treasury Department has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trumps-treasury-dept-launches-sanctions-targeting-sinaloa-cartel?author=Spencer+Lindquist&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Trump%E2%80%99s+Treasury+Dept+Launches+Sanctions+Targeting+Sinaloa+Cartel">issued sanctions</a> against the notorious Sinaloa Cartel in an effort to disrupt their operations.
Late last month, The Washington Post reported on &#8220;The mysterious drop in fentanyl seizures on the U.S.-Mexico border,&#8221; quickly drawing criticism from Republicans. On X, Texas Rep. Troy Nehls wrote that there was &#8220;nothing &#8216;mysterious&#8217; about the drop in fentanyl seizures at the southern border,&#8221; noting that &#8220;President Trump’s America First border security policies are working.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Let me be clear:
There’s nothing “mysterious” about the drop in fentanyl seizures at the southern border.
President Trump’s America First border security policies are working. <a href="https://t.co/w8jkLfqQli">pic.twitter.com/w8jkLfqQli</a>
— Congressman Troy E. Nehls (@RepTroyNehls) <a href="https://twitter.com/RepTroyNehls/status/1929707387596034132?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 3, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The Department of Homeland Security also weighed in on X, saying, &#8220;It’s no mystery. On day one, @POTUS Trump closed our borders to drug traffickers. From March 2024 to March 2025 fentanyl traffic at the southern border fell by 54%.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
It’s no mystery. On day one, <a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@POTUS</a> Trump closed our borders to drug traffickers. From March 2024 to March 2025 fentanyl traffic at the southern border fell by 54%.
The world has heard the message loud and clear. <a href="https://t.co/7RJVY8ISwS">pic.twitter.com/7RJVY8ISwS</a>
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) <a href="https://twitter.com/DHSgov/status/1929357886448091400?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 2, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Fentanyl killed over <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/nchs_press_releases/2025/20250514.htm">48,000 Americans</a> in 2024, according to the CDC.

Republican Nominee Donald Trump Campaigns For President Across Pennsylvania

White House Touts Plummeting Murder Rates Under President Trump

Homicide

White House

We&#8217;ve been trending in this direction for some time now, but after yesterday&#8217;s ruling by a three-judge panel on the United States Court of International Trade in Manhattan — which struck down all of the Trump administration&#8217;s tariffs — it&#8217;s now official: We don&#8217;t need any more rulings from federal judges about what the president of the United States isn&#8217;t allowed to do. Those are completely pointless. Instead, what we need, in our alleged first-world democracy, is a ruling from some federal court explaining, in as much detail as possible, what exactly the president of the United States does have the authority to do while in office. That would be the most efficient way forward, at this point.
In just the past five months, federal courts have held that the Trump administration has no authority to do the following:
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Change federal government websites</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Fire any Executive Branch employees</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Ban mentally disturbed individuals from joining the armed forces </li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Eliminate slush funds for corrupt NGOs</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Stop funneling billions of dollars of taxpayer money to anti-white universities like Harvard</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Eliminate wasteful &#8220;administrative spending&#8221; that&#8217;s tacked onto every single scientific grant</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Deport illegal alien gang members — even the wife-beaters and terrorists</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Cut federal funding to child castration services for children</li>
</ul>
And now, after all of these rulings and dozens more like them, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/worlds-stock-markets-react-to-court-ruling-against-trumps-tariffs?author=Hank+Berrien&amp;category=undefined&amp;elementPosition=11&amp;row=3&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+News&amp;rowType=Vertical+Carousel&amp;title=World%E2%80%99s+Stock+Markets+React+To+Court+Ruling+Against+Trump%E2%80%99s+Tariffs">we heard last night</a> from the U.S. Court of International Trade that the president of the United States also does not have the power to impose emergency tariffs on foreign nations. Before we go into the details about this ruling and the problems I have with it, there&#8217;s a very important point that needs to be made here, which is this: Even if you think tariffs are a terrible idea — and really even if you believe that the Court of International Trade made the right ruling in this particular case — you simply cannot deny that the judicial system in this country, because of its own overzealousness, has never been less legitimate than it is right now.
The sheer number of injunctions that have been issued, blocking every single agenda item that the democratically elected president has attempted to execute, is unprecedented in the history of the United States. We&#8217;re in comical, “jump-the-shark” territory. And that&#8217;s a very, very big deal, because courts don&#8217;t have militaries. They can&#8217;t enforce their own rulings. When they lose legitimacy, they lose everything. And with this latest ruling, on top of all the other rulings, legitimacy is long gone.
So who does have legitimacy? Where does legitimacy come from? For judges, legitimacy comes from restraint and consistency, and adherence to the law. For presidents, it comes from democratic elections. It comes from campaigning, and openly telling voters what you plan to do, if and when you&#8217;re elected. And with that in mind, you will not find a single person — even the most deranged anchor on MSNBC — who will disagree with this statement: Donald Trump explicitly campaigned on imposing massive tariffs on foreign nations in order to return manufacturing to the United States. That was always a core plank of his domestic agenda. That doesn&#8217;t mean you have to agree with him. You can feel however you want about tariffs. But it does mean that Trump&#8217;s plan was put to a vote. And the American people decided that Donald Trump&#8217;s economic agenda was the best way forward. That&#8217;s legitimacy. If that&#8217;s not legitimacy, then legitimacy has no meaning. And neither does democracy.
Again, even on MSNBC, they concede this point. Last night, as he was celebrating this court decision, the perpetually unhinged Lawrence O&#8217;Donnell admitted that Trump&#8217;s entire campaign was about tariffs. He says he was talking about tariffs the whole time — and he blames the &#8220;campaign press&#8221; for not talking about tariffs enough. Watch:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="001 unconstitutional Tariffs" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/O-_kzh1ORhE?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>
The point of this little diatribe from Lawrence O&#8217;Donnell is to suggest that, if only the &#8220;campaign press&#8221; had covered Trump&#8217;s tariffs a little bit more, then the voters would have rejected his entire candidacy. This is a very familiar tactic on the Left. They did the same thing with Russiagate. They claimed that, if only people knew that the Russian government had spent $100,000 on Facebook memes back in 2016, then they would never have voted against Hillary Clinton. You poor, poor voters. You&#8217;re always being tricked by Donald Trump. You have no agency whatsoever. Thankfully, the courts will correct that little problem for you.
This is about as undemocratic as it gets. It is asinine, narcissistic and above all, totalitarian. Of course, it wasn&#8217;t just this one MSNBC blowhard who discovered that Trump was talking about tariffs all the time. The entire country heard Trump talk about tariffs. And then they overwhelmingly decided to elect him. And that should matter, more than anything else. Unless the president clearly and unambiguously exceeds his authority under the constitution, then the courts should respect the will of the voters.
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/mws-ep-1605-member-exclusive?elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+Show+Episodes+Carousel" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Matt Walsh Show</a></h3>
And in this case, if you read the ruling from the panel of judges on the United States Court of International Trade, you&#8217;ll discover that Donald Trump did not actually exceed his authority. In order to come to the opposite conclusion, a lot of mental gymnastics were required on the part of this three-judge panel. I want to start with the court&#8217;s handling of Trump&#8217;s fentanyl-related tariffs on Mexico, Canada, and China. At the moment this ruling was issued, the tariffs stood at 25% for Mexican and Canadian products, and 20% for Chinese products (with an exception for Canadian energy, which remained at 10%).
Normally, the president can&#8217;t issue tariffs that are quite this high. However, as you probably remember, the Trump administration determined — rightly — that fentanyl trafficking is a national emergency because tens of thousands of Americans are dying each year from fentanyl that&#8217;s imported from overseas. Therefore, under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the White House asserted its authority to impose substantial tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China — tariffs that are much higher than they otherwise could be.
Under this emergency act, the president is allowed to, “&#8230; deal with any unusual and extraordinary threat, which has its source in whole or substantial part outside the United States, to the national security, foreign policy, or economy of the United States, if the President declares a national emergency with respect to such threat.&#8221;
Again, the president can, “deal with any unusual and extraordinary threat, which has its source in whole or substantial part outside the United States &#8230; if the President declares a national emergency with respect to such threat.&#8221;
That&#8217;s a direct quote from the text of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which became law in the 1970s. That&#8217;s the authority Congress delegated to the president. Under this Act, the president can impose substantial tariffs to &#8220;deal with&#8221; any &#8220;extraordinary threat,&#8221; as long as he declares a national emergency. So you might be asking: Isn&#8217;t that exactly what happened in this case? Didn&#8217;t Trump impose the fentanyl tariffs in order to pressure countries like Mexico and China to stop allowing fentanyl into this country? Under the terms of this law, isn&#8217;t the president implementing these tariffs to &#8220;deal with&#8221; the fentanyl crisis?
According to the trade court, the answer to that question is no. Here&#8217;s their reasoning. They focus extensively on the words &#8220;Deal with&#8221; in the law that I just read.
Here&#8217;s what <a href="https://www.cit.uscourts.gov/sites/cit/files/25-66.pdf">they said</a>:
<blockquote>&#8216;Deal with&#8217; connotes a direct link between an act and the problem it purports to address. A tax deals with a budget deficit by raising revenue. A dam deals with flooding by holding back a river. But there is no such association between the act of imposing a tariff and the &#8216;unusual and extraordinary threats&#8217; that the [Fentanyl] Trafficking Orders purport to combat. &#8230; The [Fentanyl] Trafficking Orders do not &#8216;deal with&#8217; their stated objectives. Rather, as the Government acknowledges, the Orders aim to create leverage to &#8216;deal with&#8217; those objectives.</blockquote>
In other words, the court is acknowledging that the fentanyl tariffs are being used by the Trump administration as a form of leverage, which can force foreign countries to &#8220;deal with&#8221; the fentanyl problem. But they&#8217;re claiming that, under the law, that&#8217;s not allowed. That&#8217;s not how you&#8217;re supposed to &#8220;deal with&#8221; fentanyl, according to this three-judge panel. The judges are saying that the Trump administration is assuming too much power, and that &#8220;leverage&#8221; isn&#8217;t the appropriate way to &#8220;deal with&#8221; an emergency. Therefore, apparently, the Trump administration needed to impose a tariff specifically on fentanyl imports, or something like that — even though it would obviously accomplish nothing at all, because no one is declaring their fentanyl shipments at the border.
I want to emphasize this a little more, because this part of the ruling really deserves more attention than it&#8217;s getting. Congress passed a law that allows the president to &#8220;deal with&#8221; any emergency he declares. And now, decades later, this trade court is saying, in effect — &#8220;no, you can&#8217;t deal with it like that.&#8221; But there&#8217;s nothing in the law that justifies their ruling. The court just makes it up. The only reasoning that the court provides — which is contained in two paragraphs at the end of their opinion — is that the Trump administration&#8217;s approach would justify any kind of tariff they wanted to impose, no matter how ridiculous. They&#8217;re saying that, if Trump can use &#8220;leverage&#8221; as a justification, then he can impose whatever tariff he wants. But that&#8217;s not true. There has to be an underlying emergency, first of all. And the deaths of tens of thousands of Americans every year certainly qualifies.
Additionally, there&#8217;s evidence that, in this case, Trump&#8217;s &#8220;leverage&#8221; is indeed working. Within days of Trump&#8217;s sweeping tariffs on Canada, for example, Trudeau appointed a fentanyl czar and pledged to screen exports more carefully, in order to prevent fentanyl from entering into this country.
So we&#8217;re not talking about some arbitrary tariff that has no connection to reality. We&#8217;re talking about a tariff that has already produced tangible results that will stem the flow of fentanyl. But apparently, that&#8217;s not good enough.
I&#8217;m highlighting this part of the ruling because it underscores the extent of the judicial coup we&#8217;re witnessing. Congress delegated authority to the president to &#8220;deal with&#8221; an emergency. He attempted to do that. And then the court overrides him, based on ad hoc reasoning that invalidates the will of the voters, who elected the Trump administration (and the members of Congress who passed that emergency tariff law). Again, it&#8217;s fine if you think the tariffs are a bad idea, or good idea, or if you have mixed feelings about it. But the solution, in that case, is for Congress to rescind the tariff power — in whole or in part. The solution is not for random courts in Manhattan to override the president and the Congress, based on very strained interpretations of the law.
This ruling has already been appealed, and it&#8217;s clear that the Trump administration can still impose tariffs — albeit reduced ones — under the non-emergency tariff powers that have been passed by Congress. And late on Thursday, a federal appeals court put a temporary stay on the court&#8217;s ruling. So the ultimate outcome here is still uncertain. What&#8217;s not uncertain is that federal judges, once again, have undermined what&#8217;s left of their legitimacy with this ruling. If this had been the very first injunction against a Trump administration policy, it wouldn’t be as much of a crisis. People may even give the judges the benefit of the doubt throughout the appeals process. But we&#8217;ve seen more than 100 rulings like this by now. This is unsustainable — to the point that, if one of these federal judges somehow manages to issue a good ruling, no one will follow it. That&#8217;s not the ideal outcome for this country or the rule of law, obviously. But with this decision from a court that no one has ever heard of — which erases the president&#8217;s congressionally-approved authority to &#8220;deal with&#8221; national emergencies — it&#8217;s the outcome that now appears to be inevitable.

Federal Judge Strikes Down Trump Executive Order Aimed At WilmerHale Law Firm

These Federal Judges Are Trying To Stop Trump From Dealing With The Fentanyl Crisis

Canada

Federal Government

Judges

Matt Walsh

Opinion

President Trump

Tariffs

Dozens of residents filled Chicago’s Federal Plaza on May 25 to commemorate the 5th anniversary of George Floyd’s controversial death that led to riots across the world.
TPUSA contributor Savanah Hernandez was right there to greet them, asking protesters what they thought of Floyd’s autopsy results that show he died of a fentanyl overdose. She was met with confusion, pushback, and even hostility.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
“Bringing up the fentanyl thing is f*cked up!”
For the fifth anniversary of George Floyd’s death, I decided to go show protesters his autopsy report. 
They all stated it was irrelevant to his death: <a href="https://t.co/uG2H4crneY">pic.twitter.com/uG2H4crneY</a>
&mdash; Savanah Hernandez (@sav_says_) <a href="https://twitter.com/sav_says_/status/1927016045383942574?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 26, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
“Bringing up the fentanyl thing is f***ed up,” one protestor spat. “Let’s just pretend that it was from the drug, right? Who cares? That’s not how he f***ing died.”
Many of the protestors Hernandez spoke to echoed the &#8220;who cares&#8221; sentiment.
“The autopsy report that says there was fentanyl in his system — why is that relevant to anything?” asked one protestor. “Maybe he did have fentanyl in his system. I don’t care. It doesn’t matter.”
Other residents denied the evidence of a fentanyl overdose altogether.
“I think it’s untrue and propaganda that he died from a fentanyl overdose,” one protestor said, despite seeing the autopsy report.
“America is still racist,” one man claimed from behind a mask, a stance some white protestors agreed with, seeking to acknowledge their supposed privilege.
“It’s so important for white people [to] not forget George Floyd,” one said.
“I am a white woman and I have privilege, so I want to be able to show up in these spaces and make sure that other communities are safe,” said another.
Hernandez pressed one protester further. “Do you feel like if George Floyd was white, the narrative surrounding his death would be different?” she asked.
“Absolutely,” the woman responded. “Everyone would know.”
On May 25, 2020, a store owner in Minneapolis called the police on Floyd over a counterfeit bill. Once law enforcement arrived, a struggle ensued near the police vehicle, leading Officer Derek Chauvin to kneel on Floyd&#8217;s upper back while he was handcuffed and lying face down. Floyd died during the restraint, leading to widespread outrage and riots against police brutality.
Chauvin was convicted of murder and sentenced to 22.5 years in prison. However, the autopsy report revealed Floyd died from a fentanyl overdose he took before the police arrived, meaning Chauvin&#8217;s restraint did not suffocate him.
The Daily Wire has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/the-case-for-derek-chauvin" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pushed</a> for a pardon for Chauvin.

US-NEWS-FLOYD-ANNIVERSARY-CHICAGO-TB

George Floyd’s Biggest Supporters Really Don’t Want To Talk About Fentanyl

Black Lives Matter

George Floyd

Social Issues

U.S.

The Trump administration’s Department of Justice has <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/chinese-company-and-three-chinese-nationals-indicted-unlawfully-importing-pill-making" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> that a federal grand jury indicted a Chinese company and three Chinese nationals for allegedly illegally importing equipment capable of producing millions of potentially lethal fake pills.
The indictment, unsealed on Monday, targeted CapsulCN International Co. Ltd. (CapsulCN) and Xiochuan “Ricky” Pan, 40, Tingyan “Monica” Yang, 37, and Xi “Inna” Chen, 30, all of whom were charged with smuggling, Controlled Substances Act, and money laundering offenses in connection with CapsulCN’s unlawful import and distribution of tableting machines (also known as “pill presses”), encapsulating machines, and counterfeit die molds.
“Over a quarter of a million Americans have died from a fentanyl overdose since 2018,” USA Facts <a href="https://usafacts.org/articles/are-fentanyl-overdose-deaths-rising-in-the-us/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">notes</a>. &#8220;During 2023, approximately 72,000, or nearly seven in 10, drug overdose deaths in the United States were estimated to involve illegally manufactured fentanyls (IMFs),” the CDC has <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/73/wr/mm7348a2.htm#:~:text=During%202023%2C%20approximately%2072%2C000%2C%20or,in%20the%20U.S.%20drug%20supply." target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>.
“Four internet domains used by CapsulCN to market and sell illicit pill-making equipment to U.S. customers were seized today in connection with this investigation,” the DOJ revealed.
“This indictment and today’s domain seizures send an unmistakable message to criminals in the People’s Republic of China and across the world — the Department will use every weapon in its arsenal to combat those who facilitate the manufacture and distribution of deadly drugs in the United States,” Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche stated.
“This U.S. Attorney’s Office is focused on bringing the full force of justice to anyone who conspires to poison our communities with fentanyl,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Margaret Leachman for the Western District of Texas. “Whether through the importation of pill presses and related materials, as alleged in this indictment, or through trafficking precursor chemicals and the drug itself, it is evident that bad actors are determined to harm Americans with fentanyl. Our federal prosecutors, through collaborative efforts with our law enforcement partners, are determined to stop them.”
“These indictments against Chinese nationals exemplify Homeland Security Investigations’ unwavering commitment to breaking every link of the global fentanyl supply chain,” Special Agent in Charge Jason T. Stevens of the HSI El Paso Division echoed. “We are committed to continue working hand-in-hand with our domestic and international law enforcement partners to get deadly fentanyl out of our communities and put an end to the chaos and devastation resulting from this epidemic.”
The DOJ explained:
<blockquote>
Many of the fake pills containing fentanyl and other controlled substances seized in the United States are manufactured using relatively inexpensive pill-making equipment — such as pill presses, encapsulating machines, and die molds — obtained from Chinese pharmaceutical equipment companies and imported into the United States. These fake pills often mimic the look, feel, and effect of legitimate pharmaceutical drugs and are particularly dangerous and misleading to U.S. consumers, who may falsely believe they are taking legitimate prescription medication that is safer and less addictive than the fentanyl and methamphetamine the pills really contain.
</blockquote>
The effort to discover the illegal importation was part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation. “Established in 1982, OCDETF is the centerpiece of the Attorney General’s strategy to combat transnational-organized-crime and to reduce the availability of illicit narcotics in the nation by using a prosecutor-led, multi-agency approach to enforcement,” the DOJ <a href="https://www.justice.gov/ocdetf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">states</a>.

Nogales, Arizona, USA – Nov 06 2023: Fentanyl pills seized by U.S. Custom and Border Protection officers at the Port of Mariposa

Chinese Company Accused Of Smuggling Equipment To U.S. Used To Make Fake Pills, Mislead Americans

China

Department of Justice

Pharmaceuticals

smuggle

China’s President Xi Jinping sent his top security official to Switzerland on Friday for critical trade talks with the U.S., underscoring Beijing&#8217;s recognition of the fentanyl crisis as a key issue amid ongoing tariff tensions with the Trump administration.
The Chinese delegation, led by Vice Premier He Lifeng, includes Minister of Public Security Wang Xiaohong, who is considered &#8220;the point person in Beijing’s recent discussions with Washington over how to address President Trump’s concerns about China’s role in the fentanyl trade,&#8221; <a href="https://www.wsj.com/world/china/china-sends-xis-security-czar-to-trade-talks-with-u-s-a763826d?mod=hp_lead_pos1">according</a> to The Wall Street Journal. They will meet with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer in Switzerland on Saturday and Sunday.
The meeting will be aimed at addressing China&#8217;s role in the U.S. fentanyl crisis and tariff policies, people familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal.
Previously, Chinese officials had accused the U.S. of using the fentanyl problem as a pretext to escalate tariffs.
Now, the Chinese government appears to recognize that it must present cooperative gestures in response to significant American concerns about the fentanyl crisis, as shown by Wang Xiaohong&#8217;s anticipated presence.
“Wang’s presence means one thing: Fentanyl is not only on the table, but also a key piece in the U.S.-China trade talks at this stage,” said Yun Sun, China program director at the D.C. Stimson Center, per the WSJ. “How willing China is to cooperate will illustrate how eager they are to make the trade deal.”
Sources close to the discussions told the Wall Street Journal that the Chinese delegation has been given a clear list outlining steps the Trump administration expects Beijing to take on fentanyl.
These recommendations reportedly include stricter law enforcement measures targeting domestic suppliers of fentanyl precursor chemicals and harsher penalties for criminal organizations involved in narcotics trafficking.
President Donald Trump, who imposed 145% tariffs on Chinese goods in part due to China&#8217;s connection with the fentanyl crisis — which claims tens of thousands of American lives each year — posted Friday on Truth Social that he is open to lowering tariffs to 80%, placing the decision in the hands of Treasury Secretary Bessent.
“CHINA SHOULD OPEN UP ITS MARKET TO USA — WOULD BE SO GOOD FOR THEM!!! CLOSED MARKETS DON’T WORK ANYMORE!!!” Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114477610338144415">posted</a> on Truth Social Friday morning.
READ MORE: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-calls-for-china-to-open-its-markets-floats-major-tariff-reduction">Trump Calls For China To Open Its Markets, Floats Major Tariff Reduction</a>

CHINA-US-DIPLOMACY

China Dispatches Top Security Chief To Face Trump Team Over Fentanyl Crisis, Tariffs

Switzerland

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Xi Jinping

Federal authorities carried out a raid on a massive fentanyl peddling ring in New Mexico that was tied to the Sinaloa Cartel, resulting in the arrest of 16 individuals and the largest fentanyl seizure in American history, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Tuesday.
The raid was carried out by the Drug Enforcement Administration and other law enforcement partners and resulted in the seizure of 11.5 kilograms of concentrated fentanyl powder, 49 firearms, millions of dollars in cash, luxury vehicles, meth, heroin, cocaine, and nearly “three million pills … laced with fentanyl, labeled as oxycodone,” Attorney General Pam Bondi noted. The shocking amount of fentanyl is enough to kill millions of Americans, with just 2 milligrams being a <a href="https://www.dea.gov/resources/facts-about-fentanyl">lethal dose</a> for adults.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/AGPamBondi?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@AGPamBondi</a> announces the takedown of a massive drug and weapons trafficking organization in New Mexico, operated by the Sinaloa cartel — resulting in the largest fentanyl seizure in our nation&#8217;s history and the arrests of six high-level cartel members illegally in the U.S. <a href="https://t.co/6qdSd0bsCu">pic.twitter.com/6qdSd0bsCu</a>
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1919811733004140982?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 6, 2025</a></blockquote>
Sixteen people were arrested in the operation, including the leader of the drug smuggling ring, an illegal alien with ties to the Sinaloa Cartel, which was designated as a foreign terror organization earlier this year. Six of those arrested in the operation were in the country illegally, Bondi noted.
<div id="attachment_916595" style="width: 582px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/DOJ-Arrests-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-916595" class=" wp-image-916595" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/DOJ-Arrests-225x300.jpg" alt="" width="572" height="763" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/DOJ-Arrests-225x300.jpg 225w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/DOJ-Arrests-432x576.jpg 432w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/DOJ-Arrests-768x1024.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/DOJ-Arrests-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/DOJ-Arrests-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/DOJ-Arrests-scaled.jpg 1920w" sizes="(max-width: 572px) 100vw, 572px" /></a>The Daily Wire</div>
Daily Wire White House Correspondent Mary Margaret Olohan asked Bondi if the DOJ has had success working with Mexican officials to extradite cartel members involved in the smuggling operation.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
As <a href="https://twitter.com/AGPamBondi?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@AGPamBondi</a> announces the largest fentanyl seizure in U.S. history, <a href="https://twitter.com/MaryMargOlohan?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MaryMargOlohan</a> asks whether the Mexican government has aided in extraditing cartel members:
BONDI: “Mexico has been cooperating, we extradited 29 here to our country to face charges … President Trump is… <a href="https://t.co/NuDGO3Gwog">pic.twitter.com/NuDGO3Gwog</a>
— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDailyWire/status/1919832458742423976?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 6, 2025</a></blockquote>
“We will be hopefully working with them on one soon,” Bondi said in response to Olohan’s question. “But yes, Mexico has been cooperating in the past. I think we extradited 29 here to our country to face charges,” adding that those brought in to face American justice are “some of the top cartel members in our nation’s history.”
Bondi also highlighted the scale of the fentanyl crisis facing America, noting that “75,000 Americans are dying each year because of fentanyl” before adding that the DOJ “will not stop until this poison is off of our streets and out of our country.”
“More seizures are coming, more arrests are coming,” Bondi promised. “I guarantee you that.” The Attorney General noted that the six illegal aliens, including Heriberto Salazar Amaya, the leader with ties to the Sinaloa Cartel, will face American justice instead of being deported back to their countries of origin.

AG Pam Bondi

Feds Make Largest Fentanyl Bust In History, Arrest Illegal Alien With Ties To Deadly Cartel

Illegal Immigration

Immigration

Pam Bondi

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

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Claudia Sheinbaum

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Nogales border with increased presence of Mexican troops looking for fentanyl and migrants

Trump’s War On Fentanyl Off To A Strong Start

Trump's War On Fentanyl Off To A Strong Start

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