Trump administration is planning new mission in Mexico against cartels, current and former U.S. officials say

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has begun detailed planning for a new mission to send American troops and intelligence officers into Mexico to target drug cartels, according to two U.S. officials and two former senior U.S. officials familiar with the effort.

The early stages of training for the potential mission, which would include ground operations inside Mexico, has already begun, the two current U.S. officials said. But a deployment to Mexico is not imminent, the two U.S. officials and one of the former U.S. officials said. Discussions about the scope of the mission are ongoing, and a final decision has not been made, the two current U.S. officials said.

The U.S. troops, many of whom would be from Joint Special Operations Command, would operate under the authority of the U.S. intelligence community, known as Title 50 status, the two current officials said. They said officers from the CIA also would participate.

A U.S. mission using American forces to hit drug cartel targets inside Mexico would open a new front in President Donald Trump’s military campaign against drug cartels in the Western Hemisphere. So far, the administration has focused on Venezuela and conducting strikes on alleged drug-carrying boats.

The mission currently being planned for would be a break with past U.S. administrations, which have quietly deployed CIA, military and law enforcement teams to Mexico to support local police and army units fighting cartels but not to take direct action against them.

If the mission is given the final green light, the administration plans to maintain secrecy around it and not publicize actions associated with it, as it has with recent bombings of suspected drug-smuggling boats, the two current and two former U.S. officials said.

“The Trump administration is committed to utilizing an all-of-government approach to address the threats cartels pose to American citizens,” a senior administration official said in response to this story.

The CIA declined to comment. The Pentagon referred questions to the White House.

Under the new mission being planned, U.S. troops in Mexico would mainly use drone strikes to hit drug labs and cartel members and leaders, the two current U.S. officials and two former U.S. officials said. Some of the drones that special forces would use require operators to be on the ground to use them effectively and safely, the officials said.

In February, the State Department designated six Mexican drug cartels, as well as MS-13 and the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, as foreign terrorist organizations, giving U.S. spy agencies and military units sweeping legal authorities to conduct espionage and covert operations targeting the criminal networks. Trump publicly acknowledged earlier this month that he authorized covert CIA action inside Venezuela and has said his administration could strike drug cartel targets on land there.

NBC News reported in April that the Trump administration was considering launching drone strikes on drug cartels in Mexico. Trump administration officials are still debating precisely how aggressive to be in Mexico as part of its fight against drug cartels, according to the two former U.S. officials and another former administration official with knowledge of the effort.

Unlike in Venezuela, the mission being planned for Mexico is not designed to undermine the country’s government, the two current and two former U.S. officials said.

After NBC’s story in April, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum addressed it at a news conference. “We reject any form of intervention or interference. That’s been very clear, Mexico coordinates and collaborates, but does not subordinate itself,” she said, according to a translation provided by the Mexican Embassy to the U.S.

The administration would prefer to coordinate with the Mexican government on any new mission against drug cartels, but officials have not ruled out operating without that coordination, the two current and two former U.S. officials said.

Since early September, Trump has overseen a military campaign against boats in waters near Venezuela that his administration says were destined to smuggle narcotics into the U.S. The Pentagon has said 64 people, including members of Tren de Aragua from Venezuela, have been killed in 15 strikes on 16 boats in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean. Officials have not released the names or other details of those killed.

The administration has produced no evidence supporting its allegations about the boats, their passengers, the cargo or the number of people killed, injured or surviving.

Trump has said the strikes are sending a strong message to the cartels that they will face lethal punishment if they try to smuggle narcotics into the U.S. He’s called drug trafficking by Mexican, Venezuelan and other gangs a threat to national security, arguing that law enforcement methods — such as seizing narcotics at the U.S. border, at airports and at sea, and investigating cartel bosses and financing — have failed to solve the problem that claims the lives of tens of thousands of Americans every year.

There has been both support for and bipartisan criticism of Trump’s military campaign against alleged drug-smuggling boats.

Trump’s focus on Venezuela includes not only military strikes on alleged drug boats, but also a pressure campaign against the country’s president, Nicolas Maduro. The administration has accused Maduro of being a member of a drug cartel and is offering a $50 million reward for information that leads to his arrest.

In Mexico, Sheinbaum already has allowed the CIA to expand surveillance flights, which began during the Biden administration, NBC News has reported. Under her leadership, Mexico has deployed 10,000 troops to the U.S. border, increased fentanyl seizures and extradited 55 senior cartel figures to the U.S.

Trump’s public comments have suggested the Mexican government is unable to control the cartels.

“I have great respect for the president, a woman that I think is a tremendous woman,” Trump said last month. “She’s a very brave woman, but Mexico is run by the cartels.”