Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said that President Donald Trump’s move to designate Mexican drug cartels as a foreign terrorist organization gives the U.S. broader powers in combatting them, telling Newsmax on Monday it changes the "entire calculus."
Paxton joined "Rob Schmitt Tonight" to react to new policy that Trump highlighted in his inauguration speech, during which he put cartels on notice.
"Under the orders I signed today, we will also be designating the cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. And by invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, I will direct our government to use the full and immense power of federal and state law enforcement to eliminate the presence of all foreign gangs and criminal networks bringing devastating crime to U.S. soil," Trump said.
Now, drug cartel members could face punishment up to the death penalty, he said. Same goes for violent gang members belonging to Tren de Aragua and MS-13.
"It changes the entire calculus, because now those guys — before they had almost zero risk, now they have risk of being pulled in and punished and, you know, getting the death penalty," Paxton said. "These are serious crimes. If they're under that act, there's a lot more power that the federal government … and now you have the military that can be involved."
Further, Paxton said the cartels are "running their organization inside of our country."
"We don't know how many are here. And I don't even know if the Biden administration did, but they are definitely some terrorists here," he added.
Asked how the U.S. can dismantle the cartels at the source, inside Mexico, Paxton said Trump will likely rely on a tried-and-true negotiating tactic.
"I think the same way Trump did it last time," Paxton said, referring to stemming illegal immigration from Mexico during the first Trump administration.
"He went and negotiated with the president of Mexico and said, you either stop or we're going to put tariffs on this and that. And he basically threatened tariffs and they cleaned their act up and suddenly they weren't coming through Mexico," Paxton said. "So you've got to do something with Mexico. They've got to help us instead of aiding and abetting this."
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Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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