Well, if there was any doubt about how serious President Donald Trump is when it comes to cracking down on the Mexican drug cartels, let’s put that to rest right now. The U.S. military has been running high-tech spy plane missions along the southern border—yes, military spy planes—to track cartel activity. And let’s just say, the message couldn’t be clearer: Trump isn’t playing games.
According to CNN (who, let’s be honest, probably reported this through gritted teeth), at least 18 surveillance missions have been flown over the southwestern U.S. and the Baja California Peninsula in the past two weeks alone. Eleven of those missions were carried out by Navy P-8s, sophisticated reconnaissance aircraft typically used for submarine tracking. But the real headline? The legendary U-2 spy plane—yes, the same Cold War-era aircraft that once monitored the Soviet Union—was also deployed.
Now, let’s connect the dots. This isn’t just about monitoring illegal crossings or routine border patrol operations. This is a direct intelligence operation focused on the cartels—the same cartels that Trump officially designated as terrorist organizations. And why does that matter? Because labeling them as such opens the door for military action.
Border czar Tom Homan isn’t mincing words either. He’s predicting that the cartels are not going to back down quietly. “I think the cartels would be foolish to take on the military, but we know they’ve taken on the Mexican military before. But now we have the United States military,” he warned last week. And here’s the key part: “Do I expect violence to escalate? Absolutely, because the cartels are making record amounts of money.”
Of course, Mexico’s leftist president Claudia Sheinbaum is desperately trying to reassure her country that Trump won’t send in troops. “There won’t be an invasion. It’s not going to happen,” she insisted in late December. But Trump has made his position crystal clear:
“All foreign gang members will be expelled and I will immediately designate the [drug] cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. I will do so immediately.”
And he’s got the backing to make it happen. His pick for National Security Advisor, Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL), co-authored a bill in 2023 that would authorize military force against the cartels. And if you think that’s just empty talk, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is already laying out what that action could look like. “If it takes military action, that’s what it may take,” Hegseth said. “Obviously, you’re gonna have to be smart about it. Precision strikes. But if you put the fear in the minds of the drug lords… [and] they can’t operate in the open with impunity, [it] changes the way they operate.”
Translation? The days of cartel bosses moving freely, operating without consequences, and laughing at weak U.S. policies are over.
And let’s not forget—these same cartels have already openly threatened U.S. Border Patrol agents. A leaked internal memo last October warned federal agents in the El Paso Sector that the Sinaloa Cartel had given its members the green light to fire on U.S. personnel. That’s not just organized crime—it’s an act of war.
