Trump Team Drawing Up Attack Plans vs. Mexico

A directive signed last week by President Donald Trump gives the Pentagon authority to use military force against Latin American drug cartels designated as terrorist organizations, according to administration sources, Kevin Maurer and Asawin Suebsaeng reported for Rolling Stone.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum rejected the use of U.S. military forces inside Mexico but extradited 26 alleged cartel members to the U.S. (Photo: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Department of Homeland Security))

A U.S. official familiar with the matter confirmed certain details of the directive, which was first reported by The New York Times. Other sources said that unless Mexico gives Trump what he wants, his administration is prepared to strike its southern neighbor.

Officials stressed this was not a bluff: Trump, they said, is ready to breach Mexico’s sovereignty if he chooses—a promise he effectively campaigned on in 2024.

Still, U.S. officials insist this is not a plan for an invasion.

“It’s not a negotiating tactic. It’s not Art of the Deal,” one top official said. “The president has been clear that a strike … is coming unless we see some big, major changes.”

The directive reads less like negotiation and more like Mafia-style intimidation, with the supposed goal of forcing Mexico to solve America’s fentanyl crisis. But the threat to Mexican sovereignty is no less real.

In response, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum rejected the use of U.S. military forces inside Mexico but extradited 26 alleged cartel members to the U.S.