Note: This article may contain commentary reflecting the author’s opinion.
“We have to take over. We have to be tough. We have to be smart. We have to be fair. But if we don’t do something immediately, our country is gone.” With those words, former President Trump concluded his latest campaign video entitled: “President Donald J. Trump Declares War on Cartels,” on Thursday.
As President Joe Biden tees up his first ever trip to the U.S.-Mexico border two years into his presidency, former President Trump has launched a campaign ad specifically targeting the border issue and Biden’s failed policy in this area.
He was direct, telling supporters “We have to take over” from the Biden regime, and promising to classify the major cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO), enabling the government to deal with the drug cartels on the same terms as ISIS, Al Qaeda, Hamas, the Taliban, and any other FTO.
Trump said “The drug cartels are waging war on America—and it’s now time for America to wage war on the cartels,” according to a statement on Trump’s campaign website.
“The drug cartels and their allies in the Biden administration have the blood of countless millions on their hands. Millions and millions of families and people are being destroyed. When I am back in the White House, the drug kingpins and vicious traffickers will never sleep soundly again.”
Trump and other Republicans have made repeated moves to make this classification but that fell short.
The plan according to Trump’s website includes:
- Restoring all pre-existing Trump border policies and fully secure border, since rescinded by Biden.
- Deploying all necessary military assets, including the U.S. Navy, to impose a full naval embargo on the cartels, to ensure they cannot use our region’s waters to traffic illicit drugs to the U.S.
- Ordering the Department of Defense to make appropriate use of special forces, cyber warfare, and other covert and overt actions to inflict maximum damage on cartel leadership, infrastructure, and operations.
- Designating the major drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations
- Cutting off the cartels’ access to the global financial system
- Gaining full cooperation of neighboring governments to dismantle the cartels, or else fully expose the bribes and corruption that protect these criminal networks
- Asking Congress to ensure drug smugglers and traffickers can receive the Death Penalty
Initially, Trump proposed this during his presidency but backed off “due to concerns among his senior advisers that such a designation would anger the Mexican government and cause it to renege on Mexico’s support of the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration along the U.S.-Mexico border,” according to Lawfareblog.com.
However, this would provide several benefits to the government’s capabilities such as limiting the ability of illegal immigrants to enter the country and claim asylum as it would be restricted by the near complete block on anyone who has provided funds to a terrorist organization from entering the country.
The optics of the move are huge, and the call to action from Trump for his supporters to “Take Over” is a powerful one. However, it is likely a message that going into Biden’s annual observance of the Jan. 6th Capitol Riot, could be mischaracterized against him.
SOURCE: https://dcenquirer.com/donald-trump-border-crisis-joe-biden-failure/
