U.S. Special Forces To Land In Mexico To Train Local Marines At President Sheinbaum's Request

Fully armed U.S. special forces will land in Mexico next week to begin a training course for Mexican marine infantry troops. The training will take place between February 17 and March 30 in the state of Campeche, said Sen. Alejandro Moreno Cardenas, president of the country's Senate Naval Ministry Commission.

The mission was approved unanimously by a Senate commission at the request of President Claudia Sheinbaum. It will focus on conventional and non-conventional types of combat, according to Border Report.

The tasked troops, the 7th Special Forces Group, has taken part in operations in other Latin American countries, including Panama, Peru and Ecuador. It won't be the first time armed U.S. troops set foot in Mexico either, as they have conducted training missions in the past.

However, the prospect is making headlines as Trump administration officials, and even President Donald Trump, have discussed sending troops across the border to take on cartels.

In fact, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth warned earlier this month that the U.S. reserves the right to move against cartels in Mexico if the Trump administration believes the country is not doing enough on its end.

"We want them to secure their own territory and sovereignty, but we reserve the right – should there not be an ability to police international and violent cartels – to protect our own sovereignty as well. We hope Mexico will step up. We expect they will," Hegseth said.

Asked for specifics, Hegseth said it would be "silly" to tip his hand, according to Border Report. He added that troops' current mission lies in curbing unlawful immigration into the country.

Trump's border czar, Tom Homan, echoed the message, saying reining in on cartels would be "a great gift for the country of Mexico." Homan said such an outcome would mean "less journalists assassinated, less judges, less politicians being assassinated." "It would be a much safer country. That would be historic," he added.

Trump signed an executive order on his first day in office moving toward designating Mexican drug cartels and other Latin American criminal groups as foreign terrorist organizations.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has pushed against the possibility that the U.S. will operate inside its territory. She said "we all want to fight the drug cartels," but she drew a clear line to do so: "The U.S. in their territory, us in our territory," she added.