President Donald Trump said on Monday that he&#8217;s open to green-lighting strikes inside of Mexico &#8220;to stop drugs&#8221; from crossing into the United States.
Trump spoke with reporters in the Oval Office about targeting &#8220;narco-terrorists&#8221; in the Caribbean Sea, and said he would be &#8220;okay&#8221; with using that same strategy to take out out drug runners on land — even if they&#8217;re inside of Mexico.
&#8220;Would I launch strikes in Mexico to stop drugs? That&#8217;s okay with me,&#8221; Trump said. &#8220;Whatever we have to do to stop drugs. I looked at Mexico City over the weekend. There&#8217;s some big problems over there.&#8221;
Asked if he would seek Mexico&#8217;s permission before launching a strike on drug traffickers inside of the country, Trump said, &#8220;I wouldn&#8217;t answer that question.&#8221;
&#8220;I&#8217;ve been speaking to Mexico. They know how I stand,&#8221; Trump added. &#8220;We have lost hundreds of thousands of people to drugs, so now we&#8217;ve stopped the waterways. We know every route. We know the addresses of every drug lord. We know their address. We know their front door. We know everything about every one of them. They&#8217;re killing our people. That&#8217;s like a war.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@POTUS</a>: &#8220;We have lost hundreds of thousands of people a year&#8230; and much of it comes through Mexico. So, let me just put it this way — I am NOT happy with Mexico.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/MzvJreOuEM">pic.twitter.com/MzvJreOuEM</a>
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1990517686544273579?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 17, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The president said he would be &#8220;proud&#8221; to conduct land strikes on drug cartels, adding that he would &#8220;probably&#8221; go to Congress before striking inside of a foreign country. Trump also discussed potentially hitting &#8220;cocaine factories&#8221; inside of Colombia.
The Trump administration has been criticized by Democrats and some Republicans for taking out suspected drug runners in international waters without congressional authorization. Trump has ordered 11 strikes in the Caribbean Sea in the past two months, killing over 80 suspected drug traffickers.
The Trump administration says that at least 85% of drug trafficking through waterways has been stopped following the &#8220;narco-terrorist&#8221; strikes, but most illegal drugs are <a href="https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/fact-sheet/fentanyl-smuggling/">snuck</a> into the United States on land, coming in through ports of entry. Most fentanyl trafficked into the United States comes from Mexico or China and is driven across the U.S. southern border in passenger vehicles, <a href="https://www.gao.gov/blog/fentanyl-continues-be-leading-cause-overdose-deaths.-whats-being-done-combat-trafficking-united-states">according</a> to the Government Accountability Office.
Mexico has said that it would not approve of U.S. military operations on its soil.
“We reject any form of intervention or interference. That’s been very clear, Mexico coordinates and collaborates, but does not subordinate itself,” Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum <a href="https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2025-04-08/mexico-warns-against-potential-u-s-drone-strikes-on-cartels">said</a> in April.
NBC News <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/trump-administration-planning-new-mission-mexico-cartels-current-forme-rcna241167">reported</a> earlier this month that the Trump administration is considering <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-admin-may-send-u-s-troops-to-mexico-to-target-cartels">deploying troops</a> to Mexico to target drug cartels with drones. Six Mexican cartels were designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations by the State Department just weeks after Trump was sworn in for his second term.

Donald Trump

‘Whatever We Have To Do’: Trump Says He’s ‘OK’ With Striking Inside Mexico ‘To Stop Drugs’

Drug Cartels

Drugs

Global Politics

Mexico

Military

Politics

World

The Trump administration is reportedly floating plans to send U.S. troops to Mexico to strike cartel footholds with drones.
If the plans are approved, troops and intelligence officers would be deployed to conduct ground operations in Mexico while hitting drug labs, cartel members, and kingpins, NBC News <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/trump-administration-planning-new-mission-mexico-cartels-current-forme-rcna241167" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>, citing two current U.S. officials and two former U.S. officials.
“The Trump administration is committed to utilizing an all-of-government approach to address the threats cartels pose to American citizens,” a senior administration official told NBC.
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Many of the troops would come from the Joint Special Operations Command, serving under the authority of the intelligence community, according to the report. CIA officers would also play a role.
The mission, which has yet to receive final approval, would be carried out in secrecy, unlike recent strikes the Trump administration has carried out near the Venezuelan coast.
It could also be done with or without the support of the Mexican government, which previously expressed disapproval of similar plans that were reported in April. However, the Trump administration would prefer to work alongside Mexican authorities, according to NBC.
“We reject any form of intervention or interference. That’s been very clear, Mexico coordinates and collaborates, but does not subordinate itself,” Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum said at the time.
The Trump administration has carried out more than a dozen strikes in recent months on alleged drug boats in the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/u-s-precision-strikes-on-venezuela-military-could-begin-within-hours">Caribbean</a> and the Eastern Pacific. President Donald Trump recently confirmed that he&#8217;s authorized secret CIA operations on Venezuelan soil.
The State Department designated six of Mexico&#8217;s cartels as foreign terrorist organizations in February, opening the door for a crackdown on violence and drug trafficking in the region.
The Department of War didn&#8217;t immediately respond to The Daily Wire&#8217;s request for comment.

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Trump Admin May Send U.S. Troops To Mexico To Target Cartels

Trump Admin Looking To Carry Out Drone Strikes On Cartels In Mexico: Report

Department of War

Pete Hegseth

The illegal immigrant who allegedly rammed an ICE vehicle in Los Angeles Tuesday after previously escaping federal authorities was earlier given an award by the city for his efforts in exposing &#8220;illegal raids,&#8221; The Daily Wire has learned.
ICE officers fired at the Mexican illegal immigrant, who has since been identified as Carlitos Ricardo Parías, 44, shooting him in the elbow. A U.S. Marshal was shot in the hand by a ricochet bullet.
The U.S. Attorney has since hit Parías with the federal charge of assaulting an officer, which could put him behind bars for up to eight years.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
SCOOP: The illegal immigrant, Carlitos Ricardos Parías, who allegedly rammed an ICE vehicle in LA today after previously fleeing arrest was earlier given an award from the city of Los Angeles for his “tireless efforts to safeguard our neighborhoods from illegal raids” in exposing… <a href="https://t.co/k6GZtkj0QK">pic.twitter.com/k6GZtkj0QK</a>
— Jennie Taer (@JennieSTaer) <a href="https://twitter.com/JennieSTaer/status/1980796583420530839?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 22, 2025</a></blockquote>
Parías is a well-known TikToker documenting ICE operations across LA to his more than 132,000 followers.
He was seen earlier this year in handcuffs being hauled into a vehicle by bystanders while federal authorities were trying arrest him for allegedly interfering with immigration operations, federal law enforcement sources told The Daily Wire.
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The officers engaged in a struggle with the bystanders, who refused to hand Parías over for arrest. They ultimately drove him to a nearby hospital after he wailed that his leg was broken.
<blockquote class="tiktok-embed" style="max-width: 605px;min-width: 325px" cite="https://www.tiktok.com/@trakasofficial1/video/7555592394670918925" data-video-id="7555592394670918925">
<section><a title="@trakasofficial1" href="https://www.tiktok.com/@trakasofficial1?refer=embed" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@trakasofficial1</a> Warning ⚠️ “Viewers Discretion Is Advised “ The day that @LAgliZzynews saved @Richard LA @Richard from being kidnapped by ICE agents in LA 🥺🥺🥺 <a title="ice" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/ice?refer=embed" target="_blank" rel="noopener">#ice</a> <a title="raids" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/raids?refer=embed" target="_blank" rel="noopener">#raids</a> <a title="federalgovernment" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/federalgovernment?refer=embed" target="_blank" rel="noopener">#federalgovernment</a> <a title="losangeles" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/losangeles?refer=embed" target="_blank" rel="noopener">#losangeles</a> <a title="california" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/california?refer=embed" target="_blank" rel="noopener">#california</a> <a title="♬ Very Sad - Enchan" href="https://www.tiktok.com/music/Very-Sad-7170212466167646210?refer=embed" target="_blank" rel="noopener">♬ Very Sad &#8211; Enchan</a></section>
</blockquote>
He was arrested on Tuesday for attempting to flee a second time. Tuesday’s shooting comes amid a 1,000% increase in assaults on federal immigration agents.“These are the consequences of conduct and rhetoric by sanctuary politicians and activists who urge illegal aliens to resist arrest. Resisting arrest puts the safety of illegal aliens, law enforcement, and the public at risk. Our law enforcement officers are facing a more than 1000% increase in assaults against them including vehicle rammings by illegal aliens,&#8221; Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said.
&#8220;We are once again calling on sanctuary politicians, agitators, and the media to turn the temperature down and stop calling for violence and resistance against ICE law enforcement,” McLaughlin said.
Gangs and cartels in Mexico have threatened bounties of up to $50,000 to take out immigration authorities. Last month, a sniper opened fire on an ICE facility in <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/two-injured-one-killed-in-shooting-at-dallas-ice-detention-center">Dallas</a>, killing two detainees despite intending to kill feds.
Violent anti-ICE rioters took to LA over the summer, hurling concrete blocks at authorities, blocking major highways and setting Waymo autonomous electric vehicles ablaze. President Donald Trump called in the National Guard and Marines to quell the violence.
The Trump administration also recently hit <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-admin-hits-antifa-with-very-first-terrorism-charges-in-anti-ice-attack" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Antifa</a> with its first terrorism charges over a violent ambush at the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas, on July 4, when a cell of militants lured agents out of the facility with fireworks and began shooting at them. A local police officer was shot during the attack.

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Illegal Immigrant Accused Of Ramming ICE Vehicle In LA Was Previously Awarded By City

Crime

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

Los Angeles

U.S.

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

Claudia Sheinbaum

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents were targeted in two separate car attacks during enforcement operations in the Chicago area on Wednesday, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) told The Daily Wire. 
Illegal aliens “weaponized their vehicles in deliberate attempts to ram and injure” agents making arrests in Bensenville and Norridge, Illinois, DHS said Thursday. The attacks occurred as ICE continues to carry out &#8220;Operation Midway Blitz,&#8221; a massive illegal alien crackdown targeting the Chicago area that has yielded over <a href="https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/operation-midway-blitz-surpasses-900-arrests-illinois-dhs-says">900 arrests</a>. 
“Thankfully, none of our law enforcement was killed because of these deranged criminals&#8217; attacks on law enforcement. This is exactly what happens when Governor Pritzker, Mayor Johnson, and other sanctuary politicians demonize ICE and encourage illegal aliens to resist law enforcement,” Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told The Daily Wire. 
In the first instance, Miguel Escareno De Loera, an illegal alien from Mexico, rammed his car into an ICE vehicle twice before jumping a curb and crashing into a stop, according to DHS.  It is unknown when Escareno De Loera entered the United States, as he was not stopped at the border. 
<div id="attachment_980227" style="width: 316px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-980227" class="wp-image-980227 size-full" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/image002.png" alt="" width="306" height="220" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/image002.png 306w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/image002-300x216.png 300w" sizes=" (max-width: 306px) 100vw, 306px" />Car involved in attacks/DHS.</div>
In the second attack, Widman Osberto Lopez-Funes, an illegal alien from Guatemala, slammed his vehicle into ICE agents during an enforcement operation before running on foot to his home in Bensenville, DHS said. He was later taken into custody.  It is also unknown when Lopez-Funes illegally crossed into the United States. 
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 Both men are expected to face criminal charges for assaulting federal law enforcement and will remain in ICE custody as they face deportation. 
“Our ICE law enforcement is facing a more than 1000% increase in assaults—including cars being used as weapons against them. Secretary Noem has been clear: anyone who assaults law enforcement will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” McLaughlin said. 
The Trump administration has faced backlash from leftist protesters as they carry out operations around Chicago. Democrats, including Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, continue to voice their opposition to the efforts to clean up the city.

MixCollage-02-Oct-2025-05-37-PM-8226

EXCLUSIVE: Illegal Aliens Ram Cars Into ICE Agents In Two Separate Attacks, DHS Says

EXCLUSIVE: Illegal Aliens Ram Cars At ICE Agents In Two Separate Attacks, DHS Says

Chicago

Department of Homeland Security

Illegal Immigation

Illinois

President Donald Trump&#8217;s administration asked the Supreme Court on Friday to review the legality of his bid to limit birthright citizenship in the United States, teeing up a major test of one of his most contentious policies that could alter how the U.S. Constitution has long been understood on the subject.
The Justice Department filed two appeals of lower court rulings that blocked Trump&#8217;s executive order, which the Republican president signed on his first day back in office in January as a key part of his hardline approach toward immigration.
&#8220;The lower court&#8217;s decisions invalidated a policy of prime importance to the President and his Administration in a manner that undermines our border security. Those decisions confer, without lawful justification, the privilege of American citizenship on hundreds of thousands of unqualified people,&#8221; the Justice Department wrote in the appeals.
The department asked the Supreme Court to take up and resolve the case in its new term, which begins on October 6.
Trump&#8217;s executive order directed federal agencies to refuse to recognize the citizenship of children born in the United States who do not have at least one parent who is an American citizen or lawful permanent resident, also called a &#8220;green card&#8221; holder.
His action drew a series of lawsuits arguing among other things that the order violates a right enshrined in the Constitution&#8217;s 14th Amendment that provides that anyone born in the United States is a citizen.
After multiple lower courts halted the order as unconstitutional, the administration took the disputes to the Supreme Court in an effort to challenge the power of federal judges to issue so-called &#8220;universal&#8221; injunctions preventing presidential policies from applying against anyone, anywhere.
That action led the court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, to issue a landmark ruling in June blunting the power of judges. But that ruling left open the possibility for courts to grant broad relief to states or to individual plaintiffs through class action lawsuits.
Two challenges to Trump&#8217;s order are at issue in Friday&#8217;s appeals. One was filed by the state of Washington and three other states, and the other by a group of individuals who sued in federal court in New Hampshire.
In July, the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the states, while U.S. District Judge Joseph Laplante in Concord, New Hampshire, let the plaintiffs in that case proceed as a class, allowing Trump&#8217;s order to be blocked nationally.
&#8220;This executive order is illegal &#8211; full stop &#8211; and no amount of maneuvering from the administration is going to change that. We will continue to ensure that no baby&#8217;s citizenship is ever stripped away by this cruel and senseless order,&#8221; Cody Wofsy, an attorney for the New Hampshire plaintiffs, told Reuters on Friday.
The administration is asking the justices to hear the New Hampshire dispute even before a Boston-based federal appeals court has ruled in the case.
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The 14th Amendment&#8217;s citizenship clause states that all &#8220;persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside.&#8221; The 14th Amendment was ratified in 1868 in the aftermath of the Civil War of 1861-1865 that ended slavery in the United States.
The administration contends that the 14th Amendment, long understood to confer citizenship to virtually anyone born in the United States, does not extend to immigrants who are in the country illegally or even to immigrants whose presence is lawful but temporary, such as university students or those on work visas.
In Friday&#8217;s filings, the Justice Department said that a policy of universal birthright citizenship &#8220;operates as a powerful incentive for illegal migration&#8221; and has &#8220;spawned an industry of modern &#8216;birth tourism,&#8217; by which foreigners travel to the United States solely for the purpose of giving birth here.&#8221;
Since Trump returned to office, his administration has repeatedly asked the Supreme Court to intervene on an emergency basis to implement his policies even as their legality is tested in court, after judges blocked them.
The Supreme Court has sided with the administration in nearly every case it has been asked to review &#8211; including several related to Trump&#8217;s efforts to restrict migration and accelerate deportations.
The latest decision favoring Trump came on Friday, when the court allowed him to withhold about $4 billion in foreign aid authorized by Congress for the current fiscal year.
(Reporting by Andrew Chung in Washington; Editing by Will Dunham)

Donald Trump Signs Memorandum In The Oval Office

Trump Asks Supreme Court To Hear Birthright Citizenship Case

birthright citizenship

Illegal Immigration

Supreme Court

Thanks to China, the use of fentanyl at the workplace in America is soaring.
Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/fentanyl-china-joni-ernst-intentionally-poisoning-americans/">said</a> back in February 2023 that China was conducting warfare against the United States by intentionally flooding the country with fentanyl, declaring, “The Chinese are selling these precursor chemicals into Mexico. Then the Mexican cartels are working on making the fentanyl and distributing up into the United States. I think that the Chinese are intentionally poisoning America.”
A National Drug Threat Assessment from the DEA <a href="https://www.dea.gov/sites/default/files/2021-02/DIR-008-21%202020%20National%20Drug%20Threat%20Assessment_WEB.pdf">said</a> that the Mexican drug cartels “use a combination of methods to obtain chemicals used for fentanyl production in Mexico, primarily from sources originating in China, including purchases made on the open market, smuggling chemicals hidden in legitimate commercial shipments, mislabeling shipments to avoid controls and the attention of law enforcement, and diversion from the chemical and pharmaceutical industries.”
“In randomized workplace drug tests, the presence of the <a href="https://archive.is/o/AIYI4/https:/www.wsj.com/health/healthcare/what-is-fentanyl-drug-opioid-health-safety-explained-11658341650">synthetic opioid fentanyl</a> was 1.13% in 2024. That is up from 0.91% in 2023 and double the rate in 2020, according to a recent analysis of more than eight million drug tests by Quest Diagnostics,” The Wall Street Journal <a href="https://www.wsj.com/business/fentanyl-work-drug-test-increase-0f0b1eff">reported</a>, adding, “Surprise random tests are a clearer indication of opioid use among workers than pre-employment screening, which subjects can prepare for ahead of time and even game to achieve negative results. &#8230; The opioid epidemic has been a persistent concern for workplaces, especially in occupations in the construction, mining and transportation industries.”
Peter Schweizer, author of “Blood Money: Why the Powerful Turn a Blind Eye While China Kills Americans,” <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/china-is-the-senior-partner-directing-the-fentanyl-crisis-killing-americans-author-peter-schweizer-says">said</a> the fentanyl trade starts in China, asserting, “They’re the senior partner. The drug cartels are really the junior partner in the fentanyl trade.” He continued, “The Mexican drug cartels now launder their money in Chinese state-owned banks, and, according to our government, they use Chinese students in the United States on education visas to do this.”
In April 2024, former U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bill-barr-blasts-china-during-fentanyl-hearing-solely-responsible-for-mass-slaughter-in-u-s">told</a> the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, “The [People’s Republic of China] is the source of the fentanyl that is slaughtering Americans. China produces nearly all the illicit fentanyl precursors used and the fentanyl introduced into the United States. These are the indispensable ingredients that drive the fentanyl trade. There is no practical alternative for anywhere near the volume of precursors necessary to fuel this trade. Simply put, without China’s production and export of fentanyl and fentanyl precursors, there would be no fentanyl crisis in the United States and the mass slaughter would effectively stop.”

Fentanyl

Fentanyl Crisis Escalates In U.S. Workplaces As China Fuels Supply Chain

China

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Former Mexican drug kingpin Ismael &#8220;El Mayo&#8221; Zambada pleaded guilty on Monday to U.S. charges related to his decades-long leadership of the violent Sinaloa cartel and its role in flooding the U.S. with drugs, including cocaine, heroin, and fentanyl.
Zambada, the alleged co-founder of Mexico&#8217;s Sinaloa cartel, pleaded guilty in federal court in Brooklyn to charges that he engaged in a racketeering conspiracy and ran a continuing criminal enterprise that prosecutors said was responsible for importing and distributing massive quantities of drugs.
Those charges stemmed from his decades-long role leading the Sinaloa cartel alongside imprisoned drug lord Joaquin &#8220;El Chapo&#8221; Guzman, who is serving a life sentence in a maximum security prison in Colorado.
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He agreed to plead guilty after the Justice Department this month said it would not seek the death penalty for Zambada or Rafael Caro Quintero, another septuagenarian alleged Mexican drug lord facing U.S. charges.
Zambada was arrested in July 2024 alongside Joaquin Guzman Lopez, one of Guzman&#8217;s sons, after the plane in which they were traveling landed at a small airstrip in New Mexico.
Zambada&#8217;s lawyer has said Guzman Lopez kidnapped Zambada, which the Guzman family lawyer has denied.
Guzman Lopez has pleaded not guilty to U.S. drug trafficking charges. U.S. prosecutors have said they would not seek the death penalty for him if convicted.
Mexico this month sent more than two dozen suspected cartel members to the U.S., amid rising pressure from President Donald Trump on Mexico to dismantle the country&#8217;s powerful drug organizations. Mexico has said it received assurances from the Justice Department that it would not seek the death penalty for them.
The charges Zambada pleaded guilty to were contained in two separate indictments the U.S. Justice Department had secured against him, one in New York and another in Texas. The Texas case was recently transferred to New York ahead of the guilty plea.
(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York and Nate Raymond in BostonEditing by Rod Nickel)

FILE PHOTO: Mexican papers report Texas arrest of drug lord ‘El Mayo’ and son of ‘El Chapo’, in Mexico City

Cartel Leader ‘El Mayo’ Zambada Pleads Guilty To U.S. Charges

Courts

Sinaloa Cartel

Two immigrants from Mexico were convicted by a Texas jury on Wednesday of harboring illegal aliens at their bakery near the southern border. 
Leonardo Baez-Lara and Alicia Avila-Guel were <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdtx/pr/jury-finds-abbys-bakery-owners-guilty-harboring-illegal-aliens">found guilty</a> of two counts of harboring aliens and conspiracy at their business in Los Fresnos, Texas. The married couple, who are lawful permanent residents from Mexico, employed and housed illegal aliens at the shopping plaza they owned, federal investigators said. 
“The jury’s verdict affirms that the defendants knowingly conspired to harbor individuals in the country illegally, committed two separate acts of harboring, and did so for personal financial gain,” said Special Agent in Charge Craig Larrabee. “These actions not only violate federal immigration laws but also exploit vulnerable individuals for profit. This conviction sends a clear message: those who engage in human smuggling and harboring for financial benefit will be investigated, prosecuted and held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.”
Baez-Lara and Avila-Guel could face up to 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and lose their legal status upon sentencing. They are set to be sentenced on November 18. 
Testimony during the trial revealed that the pair provided a room for employees to live in the same shopping plaza as the bakery. 
“It was a rectangular room with mattresses on the floor and housed two employees at the time of inspection who were unauthorized to work in the United States. Testimony revealed the room was originally an insurance office which became repurposed as a storage area for kitchen equipment. Authorities also found electrical wires which, coupled with the absence of a fire extinguisher and only one entrance, resulted in a safety risk for the inhabitants,” the Justice Department said. 
Investigators said that this room was used by the couple to house illegal workers and that as many as five to six adults lived in the room. 
Other testimony at the trial revealed that the couple failed to file proper paperwork declaring their employees and continued to pay their employees in cash even after their accountant told them not to. 
The case was investigated by ICE and Homeland Security Investigations.
Cesar De Leon, who represented Avila-Guel, claimed the laws against harboring illegal aliens were supposed to be focused on international criminal organizations.
&#8220;We believe that these were hardworking people, and they employed hardworking employees and they were just here to make a better living,&#8221; De Leon <a href="https://www.krgv.com/videos/lawyers-for-abby-s-bakery-owners-react-to-conviction-in-federal-harboring-case">said</a>. &#8220;I believe these laws were supposed to target international criminal organizations, stash houses, human trafficking.&#8221;
The Trump administration has sought a nationwide crackdown on illegal immigration and has brought a few cases against business owners for employing illegal aliens.

TOPSHOT-MEXICO-US-MIGRATION

Couple Convicted For Harboring Illegal Aliens At Texas Bakery

Department of Justice

illegal immigrants

Texas

U.S. air and naval forces are set to deploy to the Southern Caribbean Sea following President Donald Trump&#8217;s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-greenlights-military-force-to-take-down-latin-american-drug-cartels">directive</a> for the Pentagon to use the military for operations against Latin American drug cartels, Reuters <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us-military-deploying-forces-southern-caribbean-against-drug-groups-2025-08-14/">reported</a> on Thursday.
Sources briefed on the move told Reuters that after Trump&#8217;s order, the Defense Department has begun deploying U.S. troops to address &#8220;threats to U.S. national security from specially designated narco-terrorist organizations in the region.&#8221; Last week, Trump quietly signed an order to deploy U.S. troops to conduct anti-cartel operations in foreign countries, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/08/us/trump-military-drug-cartels.html?smtyp=cur&amp;smid=tw-nytimesworld">according</a> to The New York Times.
It remains unknown which specific cartels the president is targeting in his directive. After Trump was sworn into office, the United States designated seven drug cartels and two international criminal gangs as foreign terrorist organizations. Most of those cartels primarily operate in Mexico, but the reported deployment of troops to the South Caribbean Sea suggests that the operation will focus more on Central and South America.
Venezuela, whose northern coastline sits on the South Caribbean Sea, has been a recent subject of the Trump administration&#8217;s scrutiny. Shortly after the president took office, the State Department designated the Venezuelan international criminal gang, Tren de Aragua (TdA), as a foreign terrorist organization, and most recently added the Venezuelan Cartel de los Soles to its terrorist organization list.
Trump has also ramped up pressure on Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-hikes-bounty-on-venezuelas-maduro-to-50m">raising</a> the bounty on him to $50 million and pointing to his ties to transnational gangs and drug cartels. Attorney General Pam Bondi also accused Maduro of using the powerful Mexican drug cartel, Sinaloa, &#8220;to bring deadly drugs and violence into our country.&#8221;
&#8220;To date, the DEA has seized 30 tons of cocaine linked to Maduro and his associates with nearly seven tons linked to Maduro himself,” Bondi said earlier this month.
After Trump greenlit military operations against drug cartels, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/mexican-president-says-u-s-military-will-not-fight-drug-cartels-on-its-soil">said</a> that U.S. troops would not be entering her country to fight cartels. Sheinbaum said last week that U.S. officials gave her a heads-up that Trump&#8217;s directive &#8220;was coming,&#8221; adding that an American troop deployment to Mexico was &#8220;absolutely ruled out.&#8221;
&#8220;It is not part of any agreement, far from it. When it has been brought up, we have always said no,&#8221; Sheinbaum said.
Trump has already been using the military along the U.S.-Mexico border to help clamp down on illegal immigration and drug trafficking. The U.S. military has also increased its aerial surveillance of Mexican drug cartels, collecting intelligence on the traffickers responsible for shipping deadly drugs, such as fentanyl, into the United States.

U.S. Navy Helicopter

U.S. Deploys Forces To Take On Latin American Drug Cartels In The Southern Caribbean

U.S. Deploys Forces To Southern Caribbean To Take On Latin American Drug Cartels

Trump Administration

U.S. Air Force

U.S. Military

U.S. Navy

Venezuela

Over two dozen fugitives from Mexico, accused of drug trafficking, murder, and kidnapping, were extradited to the United States on Tuesday. 
Those extradited include men linked to Mexican drug cartels that have been classified as terrorist organizations by the Trump administration. They now face criminal charges, including drug trafficking, hostage-taking, kidnapping, gun crimes, human smuggling, money laundering, and murder. 
“Today is the latest example of the Trump administration’s historic efforts to dismantle cartels and foreign terrorist organizations,” Attorney General Pam Bondi <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/26-fugitives-wanted-violent-and-serious-crimes-returned-united-states-mexico-including-0">said</a>. “These 26 men have all played a role in bringing violence and drugs to American shores — under this Department of Justice, they will face severe consequences for their crimes against this country. We are grateful to Mexico’s National Security team for their collaboration in this matter.”  
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Almost all of the fugitives face life in prison if convicted in federal court. The Justice Department said the men were collectively responsible for smuggling tons of cocaine, meth, fentanyl, and heroin into the United States. 
“This transfer is yet another example of what is possible when two governments stand united against violence and impunity,” U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ronald Johnson said. “These fugitives will now face justice in U.S. courts, and the citizens of both of our nations will be safer from these common enemies.”
Several of the men were members of the Sinaloa Cartel, Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG), and Cártel del Noreste, all terrorist designated cartels, according to the Justice Department. 
One of those extradited, Robert Salazar, was wanted in connection with the murder of  Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Juan Escalante in 2008. Escalante <a href="https://www.odmp.org/officer/19840-deputy-sheriff-juan-abel-escalante#:~:text=Deputy%20Sheriff%20Juan%20Escalante%20was,deputy%20before%20being%20fatally%20shot.">was</a> shot by two gang members outside his home before he left for work. 
Another one of those handed over to American authorities was Abdul Karim Conteh, a Sierra Leone national accused of smuggling illegal immigrants from Iran, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Somalia, Cameroon, Senegal, Mauritania, Ethiopia, and Egypt into the United States. 
Luis Raul Castro Valenzuela, a Sinaloa Cartel member set to face American justice, is charged with kidnapping and holding hostage an American, the Justice Department said. 
The extradition agreement with Mexico coincides with a report from last week that President Donald Trump had quietly signed an order to use military force against drug cartels in foreign countries. Mexico has resisted suggestions that the American military be deployed on the ground to crack down on the cartels. 
“We cooperate, we collaborate, but there is not going to be an invasion,” Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum said. “That is ruled out, absolutely ruled out,” she continued. “It is not part of any agreement, far from it. When it has been brought up, we have always said no.”

MEXICO-US-ECONOMY-CEO-DIALOGUE-SHEINBAUM

Dozens Of Mexican Drug Cartel Fugitives Extradited To Face American Justice

Pam Bondi

A class of synthetic opioids called nitazenes, made in secret Chinese laboratories and 43 times more deadly than fentanyl, is now killing young Americans, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
After two young Texas men died this year from ingesting pills laced with nitazenes, their mothers have launched a campaign to get the U.S. government to focus more on the problem.
“Lucci Reyes-McCallister, 22, died January 26 near Houston, Texas, after taking a pill labeled as Xanax that was actually laced with N-Pyrrolidino Protonitazene, an emerging form of nitazene. &#8230; Hunter Clement, 21. died on April 10 after taking a nitazene-laced pill branded to look like a Percocet,” the New York Post <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/08/11/us-news/little-known-synthetic-opioid-nitazene-is-up-to-43-times-more-deadly-than-fentanyl-resistant-to-narcan-and-killing-young-americans/">reported</a>.
“Sometimes I get mad because I couldn’t save my own son, but I do want to save other people, even if it’s just one person in honor of him,” Hunter Clement’s mother, Ruthi, told The Post.
Former acting DEA administrator Derek Maltz said the deaths were part of China’s “ongoing attack against America &#8230; As America is just now really starting to talk about fentanyl, we have now seen all these other substances that are popping up everywhere, and they’re coming out of these labs in China.”
In 2024, the Drug Enforcement Administration <a href="https://www.dea.gov/sites/default/files/2024-05/NDTA_2024.pdf">reported</a> on the “dangerous shift from plant-based drugs to synthetic drugs,” adding:
This shift has resulted in the most dangerous and deadly drug crisis the United States has ever faced. These synthetic drugs, such as fentanyl and methamphetamine, are responsible for nearly all of the fatal drug poisonings in our nation.
“The Sinaloa and Jalisco Cartels are at the heart of this crisis,” continued. “These two Cartels are global criminal enterprises that have developed global supply chain networks. They rely on chemical companies and pill press companies in China to supply the precursor chemicals and pill presses needed to manufacture the drugs. They operate clandestine labs in Mexico where they manufacture these drugs, and then utilize their vast distribution networks to transport the drugs into the United States.”
“Nitazenes are sold by China-based chemical suppliers through online marketplaces, the Mexican cartels could easily use their existing relationships with those suppliers to obtain nitazenes,” the report stated.
Nitazene analogues were connected to at least five deaths in Philadelphia, “and a dozen more deaths may be attributed to the deadly drugs,” The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/drug-40-times-stronger-than-fentanyl-plagues-philadelphia">reported</a> in April 2024. “The health department suspects that a nitazene analogue known as N-desethyl isotonitazene was present in 12 overdose deaths in Philadelphia between November and December 2022,” the Philadelphia Inquirer <a href="https://www.inquirer.com/health/opioid-addiction/nitazenes-philadelphia-drug-overdoses-opioids-20240409.html" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.inquirer.com/health/opioid-addiction/nitazenes-philadelphia-drug-overdoses-opioids-20240409.html&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1712761220662000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0RLaCGzkDdLL2Bhk8u9NaE">reported</a>. Two other nitazene analogues were identified in an overdose victim who died in June 2023.”
Although the drug naloxone can be used to reverse the effects of fentanyl,  the normal dose of naloxone may not be enough to combat the effects of nitazenes.
“Customs <a href="https://www.cbp.gov/frontline/buyer-beware-bad-actors-exploit-de-minimis-shipments">officers at JFK are seeing the drug</a> coming through the airport ‘at least a few times a week in quantities ranging from just a few grams to upwards of a pound or more,’ Andrew Renna, Assistant Port Director for Cargo Operations at the airport, said in May,” The Post noted.

Alex Krotulski, 32, associate director and forensic toxicologis

Chinese-Made Opioid Deadlier Than Fentanyl Now Killing Young Americans

Mothers Whose Sons Died From Opioid Far More Lethal Than Fentanyl Alerting Others Of Lurking Menace

Nitazenes

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