Pentagon officials told members of Congress of the development after strikes were carried out on boats in the Caribbean.
By Catholics for Catholics
Saying that drug cartels are “unlawful combatants,” President Donald Trump has declared that the United States is now in a “non-international armed conflict” against them, according to a new memorandum.
“Although friendly foreign nations have made significant efforts to combat these organizations, suffering significant losses of life, these groups are now transnational and conduct ongoing attacks throughout the Western Hemisphere as organized cartels,” stated the memo, which refers to cartel members as “unlawful combatants” and was obtained by the Associated Press on Oct. 2, stated.
“Therefore, the President determined these cartels are non-state armed groups, designated them as terrorist organizations, and determined that their actions constitute an armed attack against the United States.”
A Pentagon spokesperson referred a request for comment to the White House, according to The Epoch Times.
In recent weeks, the Trump administration has conducted three strikes on boats it said were smuggling drugs in the Caribbean. The conflict started with a Sept. 2 strike that Washington officials said killed 11 members of Tren de Aragua, a criminal group that started in Venezuela and was labeled as a terrorist organization by the United States earlier this year.
“As we have said many times, the President acted in line with the law of armed conflict to protect our country from those trying to bring deadly poison to our shores, and he is delivering on his promise to take on the cartels and eliminate these national security threats from murdering more Americans,” Anna Kelly, a White House spokesperson, told The Epoch Times.
The memo in questions is a report required by federal law after any incident in which U.S. forces are involved in an attack or hostilities. A White House official said that the report was conveyed to Congress following the second strike.
A measure recently introduced under the War Powers Act would forbid using the military against non-state groups involved in drug trafficking, barring authorization from Congress.
“Drug cartels must be stopped, but declaring war & ordering lethal military force without Congress or public knowledge—nor legal justification—is unacceptable,” Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), the ranking member of the Senate Armed Forces Committee, wrote on X Thursday.
But other officials have said the strikes are needed to protect Americans.
“We’re not going to sit back anymore and watch these people sail up and down the Caribbean like a cruise ship, “Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in September. “It’s not going to happen.”
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