President Donald Trump has directed the Pentagon to prepare options for the possible use of U.S. military force against drug cartels designated as terrorist organizations, two U.S. officials confirmed to ABC News on Friday.
One official said that any possible use of U.S. military assets is not imminent.
It remains unclear exactly what the authorization will allow and what military operations would be considered as potential options that the U.S. military has been authorized to prepare. There are sure to be questions about the legality of such operations.
The New York Times was first to report that Trump had signed a directive ordering the Pentagon to prepare military options against the cartels.
The Pentagon referred all questions to the White House. Asked for comment, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly told ABC News that "President Trump's top priority is protecting the homeland, which is why he took the bold step to designate several cartels and gangs as foreign terrorist organizations."
President Trump was pressed by a reporter on Friday if he would send U.S. forces to Latin America to take on the cartels.
"Well, Latin America's got a lot of cartels and they've got a lot of drugs flowing. So, you know, we want to protect our country. We have to protect our country. We haven't been doing it for four years. And we love this country like they love their countries. We have to protect our country," Trump said.
"So, you know, we're playing a tough game, but we'll have more to say about that soon," he added.
President Donald Trump waits to greet Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan at the White House, Aug. 8, 2025, in Washington.
Jessica Koscielniak/Reuters
Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum on Friday dismissed the idea of the U.S. military targeting drug cartels in Mexican territory.
"The United States is not going to come to Mexico with the military. We cooperate, we coordinate but there won't be an invasion... that is ruled out," Sheinbaum said when responding to a question on reports about Trump directing the military to prepare military options against the cartels.
In February, the Trump administration designated Tren de Aragua, the Sinaloa Cartel, MS-13 and other drug cartels as global terrorist organizations following an executive order signed by Trump in January.
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Appearing on EWTN on Thursday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that designation allows the administration to use various means against the cartels which he described as being armed like terrorist or armies that control territory.
"I don't know if it's changed their behavior yet, but their behavior is going to have to change one way or another," Rubio said in an interview when asked if the terrorist designation had changed the cartels' behavior. "But it allows us to now target what they're operating and to use other elements of American power, intelligence agencies, the Department of Defense, whatever … to target these groups if we have an opportunity to do it."
"We have to start treating them as armed terrorist organizations, not simply drug dealing organizations," Rubio continued. "Drug dealing is the kind of terrorism they're doing."
The State Department's foreign terrorist organization designation does not authorize military force, according to some experts.
"On the law, FTO designation, by itself, does not constitute an authorization to use force, despite some confusion to the contrary, including within the US government," Brian Finucane, who was attorney-adviser at the State Department from 2011 to 2021, told ABC News.
"You would need some other authority," he said, under executive power, or via congressional authorization.
The details of Trump's order were not immediately clear, but "it's all fairly legally fraught," Finucane said, under the laws that govern the military justice system, domestic statutes, and international law.
Hegseth in January fired the top military lawyers for each of the Army, Navy, and Air Force.
"I think you're going to have military lawyers [that are] going to be nervous," said retired Lt .Col. Rachel VanLandingham, a former judge advocate in the U.S. Air Force.
"They also don't have the top cover, because anyone that wouldn't be a yes man or yes woman has been terminated," she said.