President Donald Trump ordered a drone strike against Venezuelan narco-terrorists this week as they were trafficking deadly drugs into the U.S. Now, the Trump administration is circling the wagons and defending the decision to kill the drug-traffickers rather than interdict their boat. On Tuesday, a boat carrying illegal drugs and members of the Tren de Aragua (TdA) international criminal gang and foreign terrorist organization was struck, destroyed, and sunk by the U.S. Eleven TdA members were killed.
“Please let this serve as notice to anybody even thinking about bringing drugs into the United States of America. BEWARE!” the president wrote in a Truth Social post, alongside video footage of the strike. He explained, “TDA is a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization, operating under the control of [Venezuelan president] Nicolas Maduro, responsible for mass murder, drug trafficking, sex trafficking, and acts of violence and terror across the United States and Western Hemisphere.”
The move has attracted criticism, particularly online, with pundits and commentators suggesting that the Trump administration should have interdicted the TdA vessel and seized the drugs. For example, Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said in an interview that it’s “hard to any sympathy for drug dealers,” but, he continued, “at the same time, you might ask the question, ‘Where does it end?’ Are we the world’s policemen, international policemen? Are we gonna be blowing people up off the coast all around the world?” He added, “On the face of it, sounds good. Nobody’s gonna have any kind of lost love for a bunch of drugs going down in the ocean and killing some gang members.” The senator continued, “At the same time … is it really the constitutional duty of our government to be policing the international drug trade everywhere around the world?”
Senior administration officials and the president’s allies, however, have doubled down on defending the strike against TdA members. Vice President J.D. Vance was asked about the “legal authority” for the strike and replied, “The legal authority … is that there are people who are bringing — literal terrorists who are bringing deadly drugs into our country, and the President of the United States ran on a promise of stopping this poison from coming into our country.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also backed the drone strike, warning that more operations against narco-terrorists will likely follow. “We’ve got assets in the air, assets in the water, assets on ships, because this is a deadly serious mission for us, and it won’t stop with just this strike,” he said. “Anyone else trafficking in those waters who we know is a designated narco-terrorist will face the same fate, and it’s important for the American people to protect our homeland and protect our hemisphere.” Addressing narco-terrorists, Hegseth argued, “You’re poisoning our people. We’ve got incredible assets, and they are gathering in the region.” He warned, “So, you want to try to traffic drugs. It’s a new day. It’s a different day. And so those 11 drug traffickers are no longer with us, sending a very clear signal that this is an activity the United States is not going to tolerate in our hemisphere.”
On Wednesday night’s episode of “Washington Watch,” Rep. Brad Knott (R-N.C.) expressed support for the president’s action. “When you look at the scale of America’s pain and the harm that we have suffered because of these transnational organizations and terrorist organizations, it’s really hard to quantify it,” he emphasized. “Playing defense here on our own soil is not as effective as it needs to be. And going on offense is a needed step, and I fully support the government doing it.”
As Knott observed, “These terrorist organizations, these narco-terrorists, these cartel members, they’re not just drug traffickers. They’re human traffickers. They defraud the country. They work to undermine our sovereignty.” The congressman continued, “Millions of Americans are affected every year because of the effect or because of the efforts of these organizations, and taking it to them, taking the fight to these organizations is essential to protect our country.” He added, “I applaud the president for going on offense here. And, candidly, I think we’re overdue for it.”
At a press conference while visiting Mexico City Wednesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio took an equally firm approach. “The President of the United States has determined that narco-terrorist organizations pose a threat to the national security of the United States. I don’t need to explain to you why,” he said. “They are traffickers of people, they are traffickers of deadly drugs, they are traffickers of all kinds of illicit means, and they use the money that they generate to destabilize governments in the region, which in and of itself then poses a threat to the United States.” He added, “These are not stock brokers, these are not real estate agents who on the side deal a few drugs. These are organized, corporate, structured organizations who specialize in the trafficking of deadly drugs into the United States of America.”
“They pose an immediate threat to the United States. Period. If you’re on a boat full of cocaine or fentanyl or whatever headed to the United States, you’re an immediate threat to the United States,” Rubio pointed out. “And the president, under his authority as commander in chief, has a right under exigent circumstances to eliminate imminent threats to the United States. And that’s what he did yesterday in international waters.” The secretary of State further pledged that the Trump administration will continue targeting narco-terrorists trafficking drugs into the U.S. “We’re not going to sit back anymore and watch these people sail up and down the Caribbean like a cruise ship. It’s not going to happen. It’s not going to happen anymore. They’re not going to bring drugs into the United States. We’re going to stop them.”
Rubio also addressed concerns over drone-striking narco-terrorists instead of intercepting their vessels and seizing the drugs. “The United States has long, for many, many years, established intelligence that allow us to interdict and stop drug boats, and we did that, and it doesn’t work.” He explained, “Interdiction doesn’t work because these drug cartels, what they do is they know they’re gonna lose, you know, two percent of their cargo. They bake it into their economics.” Rubio added, “What will stop them is when you blow them up, when you get rid of them.” He explained that the same U.S. intelligence mechanisms used to interdict drug-trafficking vessels were used to determine that the Venezuelan boat was en route to the U.S. to traffic drugs. “Instead of interdicting it, on the president’s orders, he blew it up. And it’ll happen again,” he said. Rubio added, “The President of the United States is going to wage war on narco-terrorist organizations.”
Rubio’s visit to Mexico City was part of a new deal brokered between the U.S. and Mexican governments, agreeing to more aggressively fight cartel and narco-terrorist activity. “The aim is to work together to dismantle transnational organized crime through enhanced cooperation between our respective national security and law enforcement institutions, and judicial authorities,” the U.S. State Department announced in a press release. “This cooperation through specific and immediate actions will strengthen the security along our shared border, halt the trafficking of fentanyl and other illicit drugs, and stop arms trafficking.” The Trump administration has previously pressed the Mexican government to make more stringent efforts to curb cartel activity encroaching into the U.S.
Earlier this year, the State Department formally classified TdA and seven other cartels and international criminal gangs as foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs). In addition to the Venezuela-based TdA, which has been trafficking drugs into America and has even violently taken over American apartment complexes, the U.S. declared the Mexico-based Sinaloa, Jalisco New Generation, Gulf, del Noreste, La Familia Michoacana, and Unidos cartels as FTOs, along with the El Salvador-based Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) international gang.
AUTHOR
S.A. McCarthy serves as a news writer at The Washington Stand.
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