President Donald Trump has declared drug cartels to be “unlawful combatants” and said that the United States is now in a “non-international armed conflict,” according to a newly obtained memorandum.
The Trump administration has carried out three strikes in recent weeks on boats it said were smuggling drugs in the Caribbean, starting with a Sept. 2 strike that administration officials said killed 11 members of Tren de Aragua, a criminal group that originated in Venezuela and was designated as a terrorist organization by the United States earlier this year.
“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,” the memo, which refers to cartel members as “unlawful combatants” and was obtained by The Associated Press on Oct. 2, states….
Trump Notifies Congress of ‘Armed Conflict’ With Drug Cartels
