Former President Donald Trump vowed to "take down the [drug] cartels, just as we took down ISIS" if he's elected again to the nation's highest office.
Trump, who in November kicked off his campaign for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, used a press release and video on social media to announce his "action plan" to destroy the Mexican drug cartels that have thrived as a result of the migrant crisis at the southern border.
Trump said his successor, President Joe Biden, has "sided against the United States and with the cartels" by imposing his "open border policies."
"Fentanyl, heroin, meth and other lethal drugs are pouring across our wide-open border, stealing hundreds of thousands of beautiful American lives, and it's happening like never before in our history," Trump said in the video.
"Our country is being poisoned from within by the drugs and by all the other crime that's taking place. The drug cartels are waging war on America and it's now time for America to wage war on the cartels."
Trump's plan would include using "all necessary military assets" to erase the cartels, which he would designate as being foreign terrorist organizations, and asking Congress to ensure that drug smugglers and traffickers can face the death penalty.
Trump's plan also includes:
- Restoring all border policies under the Trump administration and fully securing the border.
- Imposing a full naval embargo on the cartels, to ensure they can't use waters to traffic illicit drugs to the U.S.
- Making appropriate use of special forces, cyber warfare, and other covert and overt actions to inflict maximum damage on cartel leadership, infrastructure, and operations.
- Cutting off the cartels' access to the global financial system.
- Getting full cooperation of neighboring governments to dismantle the cartels, or else fully expose the bribes and corruption that protect these criminal networks.
Under Biden, Trump's release noted, an estimated 200,000-plus Americans have died from drug overdoses. Also, revenue for drug cartels and human smugglers has skyrocketed by an estimated 2,500%, netting $13 billion this year.
"The drug cartels are waging war on America — and it's now time for America to wage war on the cartels," Trump said. "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."