Staff Reports
Donald Trump told Fox News he’s shifting the fight against the drug cartels from the sea to the land, bluntly declaring “we are going to start now hitting land” as he vowed to take the battle to cartel strongholds. For years Washington has tolerated a slow-bleed across our southern border while criminal syndicates flooded our neighborhoods with fentanyl and violence; finally a president is speaking like a commander-in-chief who actually means to win.
Mexico’s president immediately pushed back, warning that any unilateral U.S. military action on Mexican soil would violate sovereignty and demanding closer coordination with Washington to avoid escalation. That response is predictable but unpersuasive to Americans watching their towns drown in overdoses and murder; cooperation is welcome, but it cannot be an excuse for inaction.
Mexican officials have repeatedly said they will not allow U.S. strikes within their territory, even as they accept intelligence sharing and limited cooperation to target traffickers. Those declarations are understandable politically, yet they reveal the uncomfortable truth: Mexico’s government will always answer to domestic political pressures before the safety of our citizens unless pressed hard by our leaders.
This president’s talk follows a string of maritime strikes and operations in the Caribbean and Pacific that his administration credits with cutting sea-borne drug flows, and now he says the next phase is to choke off land routes and cartel infrastructure. If those maritime actions reduced shipments, then expanding pressure makes strategic sense—cartels cannot be negotiated into submission, they must be dismantled.
Critics and cable pundits will howl about sovereignty and “escalation,” but the real scandal is the decades of appeasement that let ruthless traffickers turn border regions into battlefields and Americans into casualties. Strong nations do not beg rivals or criminal syndicates to stop—strong nations make the hard choice to protect their people, and that is exactly what bold action promises.
The legal and political terrain is messy—Congress, diplomats, and international law will all raise questions—and opponents will try to tie the president’s hands with resolutions and delays. But when the lives of working families are on the line, political theater is a luxury Americans cannot afford; leadership means using every lawful tool to secure the homeland and demand accountability from neighboring governments.
Patriots should demand clarity, not timid apologies: tell your representatives you want borders secured, cartels crushed, and the rule of law restored. If the administration follows through with firm, lawful action while coordinating where possible, history will remember it as the moment America stopped letting transnational criminals wage war against our communities.
