Mexico has cartel armies. Blue America has cartel politics.



Detroit is synonymous with autos, Los Angeles with motion pictures, and Texas with oil. Pittsburgh still conjures steel. When a product or service anchors a region’s economy, that sector has power. Politicians court industry. Industry demands representation and, ideally, protection.

What’s true regionally is just as true nationally. That’s why K Street exists and lobbyists make big bucks. Fortunes rise and fall, but if our GDP slips even 3%, the usual talking heads sprint to the cameras to declare the American economy on the verge of collapse — and always under whichever Republican is in office. When a Democrat presides over a faltering economy, the political media prefers to drive the getaway car.

Harassing users did nothing to stop the poison. Blowing up supply at sea does. Every sunken shipment dents the cartels’ profits. Every explosion represents a tangible loss.

If any of us invented a product that added 3% to national GDP, we’d enjoy the influence over policy and legislation that naturally comes with living in a representative republic with a market economy. Innovation and competition fuel prosperity.

So here’s a question the blue-city, blue-state establishment doesn’t want asked: What percentage of its GDP comes from narcotics trafficking?

Recently a member of our self-styled House of Lords, Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, erupted in outrage over the Pentagon’s lethal targeting of drug traffickers in the Caribbean. He said he was “deeply disturbed” by these operations. Was Reed ever equally disturbed by narcotics deaths in Providence or Pawtucket?

Some Democrats insist the traffickers are “impoverished fishermen.” Reed himself defended them on the grounds that “they are just trying to make money,” as if they weren’t waging chemical warfare on our civilian population. And he reassured us that the men killed weren’t running fentanyl — only cocaine. As though cocaine were some kind of civic improvement!

By any honest analysis, an overnight eradication of drug addiction in America would collapse an entire NGO ecosystem — along with the payrolls of the consultants, therapists, and bureaucrats who perpetually “mitigate” our crises of addiction, alcoholism, and dereliction. Given the nature of addiction, that blessed day will never come.

Look south. By my estimation, two-thirds of Mexico’s economy is directly or indirectly tied to narcotics. No, that’s not the Wall Street Journal’s number; nobody has the real statistics because the books are kept on scraps of paper known in DEA argot as “Pay/Owe” sheets. My estimate comes from observing the level of protection the trade enjoys at every tier of Mexican governance — local, rural, national. Narcotics are so economically essential that cartels decide who can run in elections with preordained outcomes. Their influence rivals that of the Democratic Party’s super delegates, if you’ll pardon the comparison.

Big Narco commands private armies, armored vehicles, anti-tank missiles, machine guns, uniforms, rules, and courts. The narcotics sector has effectively stalled Mexico’s political maturation.

And it’s affecting us too.

RELATED: Trump cracks the Caracas cartel code

Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

In past administrations, the so-called war on drugs looked more like a war on addicts and their families, with only token strikes on the international criminal organizations moving the product. The Trump administration has reversed that. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth is hitting the cartels directly. Harassing users did nothing to stop the poison. Blowing up supply at sea does. Every sunken shipment dents the cartels’ profits. Every explosion represents a tangible loss.

The hysterics from Jack Reed and others suggest these interdictions are hurting the economies of blue cities and states more than they care to admit. You’d think the destruction of cocaine, heroin, and fentanyl — inflicting daily carnage — would spark celebration. In Los Angeles County alone, the coroner processes six dead Americans per day from overdoses. Last year, it was eight. Fathers, mothers, runaway teens, derelict addicts — Americans, dead every day.

And yet Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) — raw with presidential ambition — insists the leading cause of death for young Californians is firearms. This is false of course. But to blue-city politicians, gun control makes for better PR than confronting thousands of overdose deaths. Meanwhile Sacramento’s ruling cabal has passed a thicket of laws, regulations, and policies that effectively protect narcotics trafficking in the Golden State.

Guns hardly register in California’s GDP. Big Narco does.

Trump cracks the Caracas cartel code



Democrats deny what mountains of evidence have long shown: Terrorist groups traffic in illegal drugs.

Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.) recently insisted, “There is no such thing as a narco-terrorist,” as he defended his opposition to the Trump administration’s war on narco-terrorism in the Caribbean. He accused the administration of trying “to make this look like it’s ISIS or Al-Qaeda,” ignoring that ISIS, Al-Qaeda, Hezbollah, and similar groups have long run profitable drug operations with local and transnational cartels. These alliances increased revenue, financed attacks, fueled violence, and deepened existing conflicts.

Maduro’s narco-terrorist regime threatens regional stability and US national security. Trump’s war on narco-terrorism meets that threat head-on.

Narco-terrorism did not originate with the Trump administration. It was the subject of my 1990 book, which documented how governments around the world used the drug trade to fund and advance terrorist activity. For more than three decades, Washington looked away. That era has ended.

On November 16, the U.S. Treasury designated Venezuela’s Cártel de los Soles — run by Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro and key figures in his illegitimate regime — along with Tren de Aragua and the Sinaloa Cartel, as foreign terrorist organizations. Treasury should have added Colombia’s National Liberation Army (Ejército de Liberación Nacional, or ELN), a Marxist paramilitary and major drug-trafficking force that controls both sides of the border and works closely with Maduro.

When I began researching narco-terrorism in 1986, I assumed political groups across the spectrum could use terror and drug trafficking to advance their aims. The evidence showed otherwise. Marxist-Leninist and Islamist regimes, movements, and militias initiated, expanded, and ultimately dominated this trade.

Venezuela’s slide into narco-terrorism dates to 2005, when Hugo Chávez expelled the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. After Chávez died in 2013, Maduro took control of both the government and the drug enterprise, tightening his partnership with Iran and its Lebanese proxy, Hezbollah, under the so-called Axis of Resistance. The goal is to counter U.S. influence in Latin America and the Middle East while enriching the regime.

Maduro’s alliance with Iran and Hezbollah runs deep. He offers sanctuary and support for their narcotics networks, money laundering, weapons pipelines, and terrorist smuggling throughout the region.

RELATED: Turns out that Hegseth’s ‘kill them all’ line was another media invention

Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Hugo “El Pollo” Carvajal — a former three-star Venezuelan general under Chávez and Maduro and a former member of Cártel de los Soles — described the strategy bluntly in a letter to President Trump. “The purpose of this organization is to weaponize drugs against the United States,” he wrote. “The drugs that reached your cities through new routes were not accidents of corruption nor just the work of independent traffickers; they were deliberate policies coordinated by the Venezuelan regime against the United States.”

This collaboration, built over decades, helped millions of Americans fall into addiction and contributed to hundreds of thousands of deaths.

Maduro’s narco-terrorist regime threatens regional stability and U.S. national security. Trump’s war on narco-terrorism meets that threat head-on and is perfectly just.

Colombian president calls for Trump's removal



Colombian President Gustavo Petro appeared to call for the ousting of President Donald Trump in an interview with MRC Latino on October 20.

Addressing the tensions between the U.S. and various South American nations over the Trump administration's deportation efforts and drug crackdown, Petro said, "Humanity has a first off-ramp, and it is to change Trump in various ways. The easiest way may be through Trump himself." Petro went on to say that the second option would be to "get rid of Trump."

'US government officials have committed murder and violated our sovereignty.'

President Trump has been highly critical of Petro, calling him "an illegal drug leader" in a post on Truth Social on Sunday. Trump went on to say in the post that the production of illegal drugs "has become the biggest business in Colombia, by far, and Petro does nothing to stop it." He called Petro "a low rated and very unpopular leader" and said that if Petro does not stop the drug routes to the U.S., "the United States will close them up for him, and it won't be done nicely."

On September 16, the U.S. military carried out a drone strike that destroyed a submarine reportedly carrying drugs in international waters off the coast of Colombia.

RELATED: 'Illegal drug leader': Trump accuses Colombian president of doing worse than nothing about drug cartels

Photo by Omar Havana/Getty Images

Last week, Petro stated on X that "U.S. government officials have committed murder and violated our sovereignty in territorial waters." He went on to say that the submarine was a fishing vessel in distress and demanded an explanation from the United States about the strike.

In response, Trump announced that he would end all U.S. funding to Colombia, cutting off hundreds of millions in economic, military, and humanitarian aid. Speaking to reporters, Trump went after Petro, calling him "a lunatic who's got a lot of problems. Mental problems." He added that the funding cuts were in response to Colombia's unwillingness to combat the drug trade: "They are a drug-manufacturing machine, Colombia, and we're not going to be part of it. So we're going to drop all money that we are giving to them."

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Trump administration strips visas from Mexican officials as part of wider cartel crackdown



The Trump administration has revoked the visas of more than 50 Mexican officials and politicians for alleged connections to various cartels. More officials are likely to lose their visas as the administration looks to both cut off the cartels and increase pressure on the Mexican government to take a harder line against the criminal elements within the country.

'This situation occurs in a complex binational context.'

In a statement to Reuters, a senior U.S. State Department official said that visas held by foreign officials can be revoked "at any time" if the official is engaging in "activities that run contrary to America's national interest."

Mexico is not the first Latin American country to have officials lose their U.S. visas. According to the Guardian, more than 20 judges in Brazil have had their visas revoked, and 14 politicians and businessmen in Costa Rica have lost their visas.

Only a few Mexican officials have publicly stated that their visas have been revoked, as visa records are private under U.S. law. The governor of Baja California, Marina del Pilar Avila, stated in May that both she and her husband had their visas revoked. In a post on X, she wrote that "this situation occurs in a complex binational context."

RELATED: US ambassador warns Haitian gangs: 'We're going to go on offense'

Photo by Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo / Contributor via Getty Images

Her husband, Carlos Torres Torres, is a former member of the House of Deputies, the lower house of Mexico's Congress. Both Torres and Avila are members of Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum's Morena party.

These visa crackdowns are part of a wider Trump administration policy of taking a hard line against the criminal elements in South and Central America. In addition to increased diplomatic pressure on Mexico and other Latin American countries, the administration has deployed Navy assets to the Caribbean and conducted lethal strikes on boats being used by cartels to smuggle drugs.

Despite reports that many of the Mexican officials who have lost their visas are members of the ruling Morena party, the U.S. State Department told Reuters that the U.S. has "a good working relationship" with the Mexican government and "look[s] forward to continuing to advance our bilateral relationship in the interest of the America first foreign policy agenda."

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Cartels are now ‘unlawful combatants.’ About time.



President Donald Trump has finally named the enemy: Mexican drug cartels. Declaring them unlawful combatants and recognizing a “non-international armed conflict” marks one of the most consequential national security shifts in modern history.

For decades, Washington treated cartel violence as a crime — a problem for prosecutors, not generals. Indictments were filed, assets seized, and sanctions imposed. But the cartels fought a different kind of war, one that combined terror, intelligence, and territorial control. Calling it “crime” guaranteed defeat.

We refused to define the cartels as belligerents — and fought the wrong fight.

According to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, Mexico ranks among the world’s most violent conflict zones — behind only Palestine, Myanmar, and Syria. It is also the second-most dangerous country for civilians. Those numbers are not from a failed state overseas. They come from our southern border, where cartel wars spill into American communities daily.

The old paradigm failed

For decades, federal authorities insisted on using a law-enforcement lens. Agencies operated under Title 21, Title 50, and limited “detect and monitor” authorities. They punished crimes but never broke campaigns. The narrow scope bred strategic blindness. While U.S. prosecutors filed indictments and built cases, cartels corrupted institutions, coerced populations, and built empires.

As the Marine Corps teaches: How you define the environment determines how you operate in it. We refused to define the cartels as belligerents — and fought the wrong fight.

Hybrid belligerents, not gangs

By every operational measure, cartels are hybrid threats. They control territory, command loyalty through terror, and run parallel governments. They tax, adjudicate, and even “protect” local populations. Their power rests on corruption and espionage: bribing officials, infiltrating agencies, and compromising law enforcement through human networks that resemble intelligence tradecraft.

Cartels operate across land, air, maritime, subterranean, cyber, and electromagnetic domains. They deploy drones, tunnels, jammers, and encrypted systems. They are multi-domain actors running hybrid campaigns.

Weaponized migration

Cartels don’t just smuggle — they destabilize. Mass migration has become a weapon of war: overwhelming institutions, hiding operatives, and masking foreign infiltration. Millions of illegal entrants from more than 170 nations have crossed under cartel supervision. The intent is not just profit. It’s demographic disruption.

Under federal law, terrorism includes violence intended “to intimidate or coerce a civilian population” or “influence government policy.” By that definition, Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation qualify as terrorist organizations.

A war of sovereignty

At the Texas Public Policy Foundation, I have testified before the Texas legislature and the U.S. Congress, warning that Mexico’s cartel conflict meets the Geneva Convention’s definition of a “non-international armed conflict.”

I described cartels as hybrid insurgents — foreign terrorist organizations that combine paramilitary violence, illicit economies, and political corruption to dominate populations. In March 2025 testimony, I stated plainly:

Mexico today is more accurately described as a state where governance has collapsed in key regions and foreign terrorist organizations dominate political and economic life, much like Afghanistan.

The president’s declaration confirms what many of us have argued for years: This is not a border problem — it is a war of sovereignty.

Against global networks

Cartel operations now span 65 countries. Chinese networks provide chemical precursors and launder money. Hezbollah and Iranian agents exploit the same smuggling corridors. Russia and Venezuela supply logistics and protection. Europol has confirmed joint cartel-European production of methamphetamine and cocaine. This is global insurgency — hybrid warfare waged through proxies.

The Western Hemisphere’s stability now hangs on whether the United States accepts that this is a war, not a criminal nuisance.

America has seen this pattern before. In Afghanistan, we failed not because we lacked strength but because we enabled corruption. We funded partners already captured by our enemies. The special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction documented how U.S. aid sustained the very system it sought to reform.

The parallels with Mexico and Venezuela are striking. Elements of their governments shelter cartels through impunity and contracts. Continuing to fund or legitimize such partners would repeat the Afghan mistake — this time on our own doorstep.

The new designation’s power

Trump’s declaration resets U.S. strategy. Recognizing cartels as unlawful combatants unlocks interagency coordination — treasury targeting financial networks, the IRS auditing tax-exempt fronts, and the Justice Department prosecuting to the “maximum extent permissible by law.” It is a full-spectrum approach that finally matches the enemy’s scale.

RELATED: Latin American leaders react to report that Trump will use US military against cartels

Photo by David Dee Delgado/Bloomberg via Getty Images

The new framework clarifies rules of engagement and intelligence sharing. We can now strike at the networks themselves, not just their accountants.

The cartels serve as convenient cutouts for America’s adversaries. China supplies chemicals, Iran and Hezbollah move cargo, Russia and Venezuela launder proceeds. These regimes use cartels as proxy forces — deniable, flexible, and brutal. The Western Hemisphere’s stability now hangs on whether the United States accepts that this is a war, not a criminal nuisance.

Peace through strength revisited

With this declaration, Trump restores the Reagan principle: peace through strength. As Secretary of War Pete Hegseth put it last week, “Our number-one job is to be strong so that we can prevent war in the first place.” Matching threats with capabilities sends a message not just to cartels, but to the nations behind them: Challenge us, and you will lose.

To borrow Hegseth’s phrasing: “Should our enemies choose foolishly to test us, they will be crushed by the violence, precision, and ferocity of the War Department. In other words, to our enemies: FAFO.”

The war has been declared. The only question now is whether America has the will to win it. State legislatures, Congress, and the public must rally behind this strategy. Half-measures have failed. The moment demands unity, clarity, and resolve.

America is under attack. The commander in chief has drawn the line. Now the nation must stand behind it — and fight to victory.

Rand Paul Compared Trump Cartel Strike To Lynching, Backed Obama Droning Americans

Sen. Rand Paul harshly criticized a Trump administration strike on a Venezuelan cartel, but supported Obama's drone strike of Americans.

One bad order could undermine Trump’s strongest issue



Thank God President Trump walked back his misguided order to grant de facto amnesty to illegal alien farm workers. Now he needs to kill the policy for good.

Trump won in 2016 — and again in 2024 — on two core promises: lower the cost of living and stop the third-world invasion of the United States. Since he shows no interest in cutting deficits in a way that might restore pre-COVID price levels, immigration remains the battlefield that will define his presidency. And unless he corrects course, he risks failure on that front too.

No more half measures or donor-driven compromises. No more weakness. Only total war on the policies, programs, and pipelines that keep America under siege.

To his credit, Trump moved quickly to shut off the surge at the southern border during his first week in office. But he did the same in 2017, and the long-term results didn’t last. A future Democrat administration will simply escalate. If Biden brought in 10 million, the next one will aim for 20 million.

Temporary border control and modest deportation numbers won’t solve the crisis. Fewer than a million removals over a four-year term won’t reverse the demographic or economic damage — especially while legal immigration, foreign student visas, and guest worker programs continue at record highs.

Unforced errors

Trump must go beyond symbolic border enforcement. That means neutralizing judicial interference through must-pass legislation — or ignoring illegitimate court rulings outright. He should authorize maritime deportations using ships, suspend most of the 1.5 million foreign student visas — especially from China and Islamic countries — and permanently empower states to enforce immigration law.

Instead, Trump recently unveiled a set of policies that undermine those very goals.

He announced continued access for Chinese nationals to U.S. universities — just as a spy ring was uncovered at the University of Michigan. He expanded his support for white-collar visas for Indian nationals and revived his “golden visa” scheme, which allows wealthy Chinese Communist Party elites to buy their way into U.S. citizenship.

Worst of all, Trump issued an order halting removals of illegal aliens working in farming and hospitality. He later reversed course — but the damage was done.

In pushing for more illegal labor, Trump handed leftists a talking point they had already lost. He lent moral weight to one of their core claims: that America needs illegal immigrants to do the “jobs Americans won’t do.” That argument, long peddled by George W. Bush, John McCain, and the donor-class GOP, was the very reason millions turned to Trump in the first place.

Ten years after calling for a moratorium on illegal immigration and a drastic cut to legal migration, Trump now echoes the talking points he once dismantled. If he keeps this up, he won’t just squander his mandate — he’ll cement the invasion he was elected to stop.

Five points Trump should heed

  1. You can’t re-onshore manufacturing and offshore the workforce. Trump champions tariffs to bring jobs home — but what good is that if those jobs go to foreign nationals here illegally? Patriotism means putting Americans to work on American soil — not just moving the factory.
  2. This isn’t about labor shortages. It’s about labor suppression. Trump wants more white-collar visas even as tech jobs disappear. He supports handing green cards to foreign students. This isn’t policy — it’s donor-class economics wrapped in populist branding.
  3. You can’t modernize with AI while subsidizing human labor. Trump wants to “win the AI arms race” with China. Great. Start by automating farm work instead of importing cartel-affiliated field hands. Cheap labor delays innovation — and the status quo keeps us dependent.
  4. The welfare state distorts the labor market. Trump refuses to shrink entitlements and yet complains that Americans won’t work. Maybe that’s true — but the welfare state is the push, and illegal labor is the pull. Cut both, and you raise wages and get people off the couch.
  5. Illegal labor invites cartel exploitation. Agricultural guest labor provides the perfect cover. In 2019, an exposé by the Louisville Courier Journal revealed how Mexican farm workers served as mules for the Jalisco New Generation cartel. One man, Ciro Macias Martinez, groomed horses by day at Calumet Farm — and ran a $30 million drug ring by night.

The cash-based, transient, and legally vulnerable workforce offers a logistical gold mine for transnational criminal organizations. Cartels use job scams to traffic humans, set up safe houses, and move product. Rural communities lack the law enforcement resources to push back. The result: strategic sanctuary zones for America's most dangerous enemies.

RELATED: Trump shrugs at immigration law — here’s what he should have said

Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

When Trump says these workers are “hardworking” and “not criminals,” he ignores the obvious fact that every illegal alien is a criminal. Amnesty for farm workers isn’t just a policy mistake — it’s an operational gift to America’s foreign adversaries.

No room for ambiguity

Trump knows immigration is his strongest issue. The polls prove it. But if he wavers, even slightly, on mass deportations or illegal labor, he opens the door for his political enemies to sow doubt — and for cartel operatives to sow chaos.

He reversed the farm worker carve-out. Now he must bury it. Then, he needs to go farther. No more half measures. No more donor-driven compromises. No more weakness. Only total war on the policies, programs, and pipelines that keep America under siege.

His base expects it. The country needs it. The future depends on it.

UFC fighter vows never to fight in 's***hole' Mexico again



UFC middleweight Joe Pyfer vowed he would never fight in Mexico again. Then, after apparent backlash over the comments, Pyfer doubled down and said he will "stand firm" and never fight there again.

Pyfer, who was born in Vineland, New Jersey, was scheduled to fight veteran fighter Kelvin Gastelum in Mexico City on March 29th. However, Pyfer's experience preparing for the fight in Mexico led to him referring to the country as a "s***hole" that is rife with corruption.

'That's why I said Mexico is a s***hole and I'll never go back.'

Hours before "UFC on ESPN: Moreno vs. Erceg" in March, Pyfer revealed he became "super sick" and pulled out of the event, per MMA Junkie.

The fight was rescheduled for UFC 316 last Saturday. Pyfer explained exactly what occurred in Mexico during a June 4 press conference.

"Fourteen out of the 15 meals, I cooked. I didn't cook on the last day, and I got super sick and I was sick for weeks," Pyfer told reporters.

The fighter said that after losing 14 pounds in just seven hours and sleeping only one hour, he was very disheartened to see fans threaten and taunt him over his decision to pull out of the fight.

"That's why I said Mexico is a s***hole and I'll never go back. I won't fight there, but the people were nice. I have no problem with the people. It's just fighting there as a professional athlete makes no f**king sense to me. That's just my personal opinion."

RELATED: VIDEO: Blaze News reporter on scene as tensions escalate in Los Angeles for 4th night

Pyfer said that while in Mexico, his coaches and teammates were stopped by the police, who tried to shake them down "for cash that they didn't have."

Pyfer rhetorically asked why fans would take issue with his comments.

"Why anybody would dispute that it's not the best country; all we have to do is look at how many people have crossed the border in who knows how many f**king years, like, come on man. Don't act like it's such a great place. It's ran by gangs ... and law enforcement's paid off by gangs. It's not that great of a place."

Following a unanimous decision win over Gastelum at UFC 316 — in New Jersey — Pyfer slightly walked back his comments in a post-fight press conference.

"Ultimately, things did not go well, PR-wise, for me in Mexico," Pyfer admitted. The 28-year-old again stated that his remarks were never a commentary on Mexican culture or people, but reiterated his stance about fighting in the country.

"I should've rephrased it a lot kinder and I didn't, so it is what it is. But I do stand firm that I will never fight there again. It's too big of a risk for a bitch like me," Pyfer added.

RELATED: US Supreme Court unanimously shoots down Mexico in lawsuit alleging gun smuggling to cartels

Featherweight and former UFC fighter T.J. Laramie told Blaze News that preparing for fights in foreign countries can be painstaking, particularly regarding the available amenities.

"Just preparing for the amenities they may or may not have for the weight cut is the most crucial," Laramie said. "Some of these places have nothing."

Laramie explained that fighters even need to be aware of cultural differences in some countries. While in Japan for a fight, Laramie said he was kicked out of a sauna simply for having tattoos.

UFC's parent company, TKO Group Holdings, did not respond to a request for comment regarding whether or not the company will change protocols (for safety or otherwise) with fighters while in Mexico or if it plans to host events there again.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Treasury announces sanctions against major Mexican cartel network: 'Their days were numbered'



The Treasury Department announced sanctions Thursday against three Mexican nationals and two entities based in Mexico over ties to a criminal cartel network.

The sanctions are being imposed in response to the alleged fentanyl trafficking and fuel theft linked to Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion, according to a press release. The CJNG network generates hundreds of millions of dollars annually and has been designated a foreign terrorist organization and a specially designated global terrorist.

'Their reign of terror will come to an end because of the strength and power that President Trump has brought back to the Oval Office.'

"President Trump promised the American public that he would ensure that their safety was at the forefront of every action that he took when he secured the border," Paul Anthony Perez, president of the National Border Patrol Council, said in a statement.

"Taking on the cartels and their illicit financial networks will have a devastating and crippling edict on their ability to operate in the United States," Perez added.

This is officially the eighth action the Treasury Department has taken against cartels under President Donald Trump's leadership.

"When President Trump took the oath of office, the criminal cartels were put on notice that their days were numbered," Perez said. "These actions today will ensure that the cartels no longer have the ability to provide unlimited funds to further their criminal enterprises and, at the same time, it will allow the United States Government to disrupt their daily activities on both sides of the border."

"Their reign of terror will come to an end because of the strength and power that President Trump has brought back to the Oval Office."

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Texas vs. the Cartel: The DEADLY border showdown



Many small towns in Texas have been overrun by illegal immigrants under the Biden administration — but under Trump that’s hopefully all about to change.

“There was a sigh of relief in Texas when it at least came to the border, because we knew we weren’t going to have to fight our own federal government when it came to actually enforcing the laws,” Greg Sindelar, CEO of the Texas Public Policy Foundation, tells James Poulos of “Zero Hour.”

While it’s been “very overwhelming” for these small towns, Sindelar notes that it was the “system working as designed.”

“So Texas had to jump in. We spent billions and billions and billions of dollars trying to just stem the tide a little bit, but what we learned from that is Mexico is not a good faith actor in this, and I’m talking about the government of Mexico,” he explains.


“And I know they’re very upset by the president saying that they are tied to these cartels. Well, I’m here to tell you they are, at this point, mostly a failed narco state. They have seeded 30% to 40% of their land to these cartels,” he continues, adding, “they let them run anything that they want to do.”

“It’s absolutely horrific what is happening, and the Mexican people are suffering because of it, and Texans and Americans are also suffering because of it,” he adds.

This is why it’s not only important for America to crack down on cartel activity as Trump has promised but Mexico as well.

“Our futures are intertwined,” Sindelar tells Poulos. “If we can’t get Mexico back into being a functioning state again, then we will continue to have these problems, and we’ll continue to pour an immense amount of money and lose an immense amount of American lives until they get their act together.”

Want more from James Poulos?

To enjoy more of James's visionary commentary on politics, tech, ideas, and culture, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.