Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said on Thursday that he would approve using drone strikes to take down drug cartels in Mexico if he were elected president.
During a campaign event in Iowa, Mr. DeSantis was asked whether “drones” or any other military intervention on Mexican soil were still on the table.
“Yes, I have already said that. We will lean in against the drug cartels. We will absolutely reserve the right, if they’re invading our country and killing our people, we have the right to defend this country,” the Republican governor said.
“We have the right to hold them accountable, and it’s not just if they happen to come over our border. If Mexico is not going to help us with that, well, then we’re going to have to do what we have to do,” he continued.
At the end of Mr. DeSantis’ campaign event, he told NBC News that the United States should “use whatever force we need to defend the country,” adding the Mexican drug cartels equate with a “foreign terrorist organization” responsible for “killing tens of thousands of Americans” annually.
“They’re trafficking people into this country. They’re abusing people, sexual abuse, it’s really the worst of humanity,” he said. “I would categorize them as something akin to a foreign terrorist organization, I think that is what they’ve proven to be. The Mexican government is not doing what they need to do to help with this, but we said from day one on our border announcement that we’d be willing to lean in against them.”
Mr. DeSantis’ latest comments are in line with a proposal GOP senators introduced earlier this year that would slap the Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) label on drug cartels in Mexico.
In February, attorneys general from 21 Republican-led states urged (pdf) President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken to declare Mexican drug cartels as FTOs. Doing so, they argued, would grant state and federal law enforcement increased powers to freeze cartel assets, deny members entry at the border, and allow prosecutors to pursue tougher punishments against the cartels’ supporters.
Mexican Cartels Impact Fentanyl Deaths
Over the last several months, a growing number of GOP legislators have suggested military intervention to dismantle Mexican cartel operatives, which have caused havoc at the border and are responsible for the smuggling of illegal immigrants and deadly narcotics such as fentanyl into the United States.
Fentanyl, a highly addictive and potent synthetic opioid, is the leading cause of death for Americans from ages 18 to 49. An estimated 109,680 people died from drug overdoses in 2022, including about 75,000 from fentanyl and other synthetic opioids.
Mexican cartels are known to import fentanyl from China before pressing it into pills or mixing it into other counterfeit pills made to look like Xanax, Adderall, or oxycodone, and selling them to unaware buyers who then accidentally overdose.
In March, Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-Texas) was asked during an interview on Fox Business whether he believes the United States should use its military against the cartels in Mexico.
The lawmaker noted that there are some legislative steps that have to be followed, but he agreed that “the idea of U.S. drones striking these fentanyl plants in Mexico sounds like a pretty good idea to me.”
“Americans are dying,” Mr. Hunt, who has a military background, told the news outlet on March 17. “It’s the federal government’s responsibility to keep our citizens safe, and we are failing them. If it takes military action and if we do it the right way, legislatively, then sign me up. I’m ready for that.”
Mr. Hunt’s remark came a week after the U.S. State Department reiterated that it has a “Level 4” travel advisory in effect for portions of Mexico, including in Tamaulipas state—where four Americans were kidnapped.
Besides the United States—Canada, France, and the United Kingdom also have travel warnings in place for Mexico. Level 4 is the highest warning in the U.S. agency’s travel advisory system.