Members of Donald Trump's transition team are reportedly discussing "how much to invade Mexico" as the incoming administration is planning on tackling drug cartels head on.
The report, published on Wednesday by Rolling Stone, attributes the quote to a senior Trump transition member. Another source close to the president-elect is defining the initiative as a "soft invasion" of Mexico, saying that American special forces would be sent covertly into the country to assassinate top cartel leaders. Trump has apparently warmed to such plans over the course of the year.
Other incoming senior members of the future administration have publicly supported the idea of deploying the U.S. military in Mexico, including the nominees for secretaries of Defense and State, Pete Hegseth and Marco Rubio.
The former said it could be in the national interest of the U.S. to do so, saying cartels are "terrorist-like organizations poisoning our population." "If it takes military action, that's what it may take, eventually," said Hegseth. "Obviously, you're gonna have to be smart about it. Obviously, the precision strikes. But if you put the fear in the minds of the drug lords, at least as a start, [and] they can't operate in the open with impunity, [it] changes the way they operate. You combine that with actual border security ... now you're cooking with gas and you've got a chance."
Rubio, on his end, said he would back such a scenario if "there is cooperation" and "coordination" with the Mexican government.
The plans presented to Trump include drone strikes or airstrikes on cartel infrastructure, sending military trainers and "advisers" to Mexico and killing or abducting top cartel leaders on Mexican soil.
Other incoming top officials like Rep. Mike Waltz and Tom Homan, Trump's picks for national security adviser and "border czar," respectively, have also been warm to the idea. Waltz co-introduced legislation last year to authorize military force targeting Mexican cartels, saying it would "give the president sophisticated military cyber, intelligence, and surveillance resources to disrupt cartel operations that are endangering Americans."
Homan said that Trump is "committed to calling them a terrorist organization and using the full might of the United States special operations to take them out."
However, the moves would pose several challenges and have sparked widespread debate over their feasibility.
To assess the potential outcomes of U.S. military intervention in Mexico, the Latin Times recently spoke with Dr. Jeremi Suri, an award-winning global affairs lecturer and author. Suri believes Trump's plans could ultimately backfire and unintentionally strengthen the criminal organizations he aims to dismantle.
According to the global affairs expert, militarizing the border, combined with mass deportations, could ultimately boost cartels' recruitment efforts, drive Mexican authorities to collaborate with these criminal organizations, and position cartel members as 'heroes' in the public eye by undermining Mexico's perceived sovereignty.
Cartels, already embedded in many Mexican communities as de facto providers of jobs and resources, could leverage U.S. intervention to present themselves as defenders of Mexican sovereignty, Suri explained.
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