Why Trump's use of force against the cartels is justified

For decades the United States has fought the war on drugs as if it were exclusively a law enforcement issue It never was It has unfailingly had national shield implications After years of inaction drugs now kill more Americans each year than every modern war combined Fentanyl alone claimed more than lives in a number that continues to rise despite billions spent on interdiction prevention and policing That is not a criminal nuisance That is a sustained mass-casualty event inside the homeland President Donald Trump s new approach absolutely treats the predicament for what it is By designating major drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations and authorizing the use of military force against them his administration has drawn a clear line between criminality and warfare The cartels are not ordinary traffickers They are transnational powers that control territory wield military-grade arsenals and use terror as a tool of governance In Trump s words they are the ISIS of the Western Hemisphere TRUMP SENDS MILITARY AFTER THE CARTELS AND IT S LONG OVERDUEThe numbers already justify the procedures In the first weeks of operations the new Homeland Guard Task Force has arrested more than gang and cartel members seized tons of narcotics and captured over illegal weapons Those seizures represent tens of thousands of American lives saved Every boat stopped and every shipment intercepted means fewer overdose deaths fewer funerals and fewer communities shattered by addiction and violence For too long Washington treated the cartels as criminals who could be prosecuted rather than enemies who had to be defeated That approach failed The cartels wage war on America for profit They assassinate extort and kidnap while basking in riches captured through intimidation and terror They destabilize our neighbors and corrupt governments from Mexico to Venezuela If America had the right to strike al Qaeda and ISIS abroad for killing Americans it has an equal right to strike the cartels that kill Americans at home The legal foundation is clear In February the State Department designated Tren de Aragua Sinaloa Jalisco Nueva Generaci n MS- and others as Foreign Terrorist Organizations A presidential determination in September formally declared that the United States is in a non-international armed conflict with these groups No court has challenged the framework because it aligns with both domestic and international law When foreign networks deliberately kill American citizens the president has not only the authority but the obligation to act TEDDY ROOSEVELT'S POWERFUL LESSONS STRENGTH DUTY COUNTRYThe ethical event is equally strong The Just War tradition requires a just cause competent authority proportionality and last resort Every criterion has been met The cause could not be more just when drug overdoses in the United States claimed more than lives for a third consecutive year by Years of law enforcement schooling campaigns and international coordination have not slowed the killing When nonviolent means have failed the duty of a authorities is to protect its citizens by every lawful means available Each go-fast boat in the Caribbean and each semi-submersible in the Pacific carries more than cocaine or methamphetamine It carries a body count of Americans These are not fishing vessels They are militarized smuggling platforms crewed by combatants in a foreign arrangement that profits from death To treat them as anything less is to deny reality The era of denial is over Critics argue that military strikes threat escalation The cartels crossed this line long ago when they began murdering intimidating and corrupting their way into power These transnational criminal enterprises now operate as shadow governments To continue treating them as mere criminal syndicates would be absurd In truth it would be to accept defeat MEXICO BROKE INTERNATIONAL LAW WITH THE CARTELS AND AMERICANS SUFFER THE CONSEQUENCESTrump s use of force is not about vengeance It is about national defense The Department of War the CIA the intelligence region the DEA FBI and Coast Guard are now unified in a single mission to dismantle the cartels quota to kill Americans Every strike on a drug boat denies the enemy profit and saves lives As Secretary Pete Hegseth announced each destroyed vessel represents roughly Americans who will not die from the poison it carried The cartels economic reach rivals that of small nations generating hundreds of billions annually They corrupt functionaries weaponize migration and flood American streets with narcotics This is not commerce It is organized war for profit CLICK HERE FOR MORE FOX NEWS OPINIONA governing body that fails to confront such an enemy is unworthy of the people it serves Trump s use of military force against the cartels is justified both legally and morally It is long overdue The United States has every right to defend its borders its citizens and its sovereignty against a foreign organization that profits from American death For decades America fought this war with hesitation and half-measures Now it is being fought with purpose This is not a new war It is the same one that has been killing Americans for generations The difference is that at last America is fighting to win