Author: Helene Cooper, Maggie Haberman, Charlie Savage and Eric Schmitt
Published on: 08/08/2025 | 00:00:00
AI Summary:
President Trump has secretly signed a directive to the Pentagon to begin using military force against certain Latin American drug cartels. It signals Mr. Trump’s continued willingness to use military forces to carry out what has been considered a law enforcement responsibility to curb the flow of fentanyl and other illegal drugs. The order provides an official basis for the possibility of direct military operations at sea and on foreign soil. Trump signed an order directing the State Department to labeling drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. Mr. Trump has targeted Venezuelan and Mexican organizations and has increased surveillance and drug interdiction efforts. On Thursday, the Justice and State Department announced that the United States government is doubling a reward — to $50 million — for information leading to the arrest of Mr. Maduro. A sustained campaign would likely raise further issues related to Mr. Trump’s push to use the military more aggressively to back a variety of his policies. Past U.S. Military involvement in countering drug operations in Latin America have sometimes pushed at legal limits. But those operations were framed as providing support for law enforcement authorities. Under an 1878 law called the Posse Comitatus Act, it is generally illegal to use the military to perform law enforcement functions. The military also provided equipment and aircraft to former Drug Enforcement Administration squads that mentored and deployed with — and sometimes got into firefights alongside — local antidrug officers. Mr. Trump’s new directive appears to envision a different approach, focused on U.S. Forces directly capturing or killing people involved in the drug trade. Military action against cartels would apparently have to rely on a claim about Mr. Trump’s constitutional authority to act in national self-defense, perhaps against fentanyl overdoses. But any operation that set out to kill people based on their suspected status as members of a sanctioned cartel would raise legal issues. In February, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth fired the top lawyers for the military services, or judge advocates general. The three-star uniformed lawyers are supposed to give independent and nonpolitical advice about international laws of war and domestic legal constraints on the armed forces. The administration has also largely sidelined the Office of Legal Counsel, which traditionally serves as a powerful gatekeeper in American government. The question of how to combat cartels trafficking drugs, people and other illicit goods has animated much of Mr. Trump’s domestic and foreign policy in his second term. Early on, the United States stepped up secret drone flights over Mexico to hunt for fentanyl labs, according to U.S. Officials. The C.I.A. Has not been authorized to use the drones to take lethal action. The latest on the Trump Administration Widening Trade War: President Trump’s punishing new tariffs on more than 90 countries have taken effect. The president said he had ordered a new census that would exclude undocumented immigrants, a significant departure that would affect the number of congressional seats and the amount of money sent to states. Times editors and reporters responded to some of the most common questions. Advertisement. Post.
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