Donald Trump Backs Down on Plan to Designate Mexican Cartels Terrorists

President Donald Trump decided Friday not to officially designate Mexican cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, deferring instead to Mexico.

“We will temporarily hold off this designation and step up our joint efforts to deal decisively with these vicious and ever-growing organizations!” Trump wrote on Twitter.

The president said that although he was fully prepared to take the tough step against the cartels, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador asked him not to.

Trump said he liked and respected President Obrador, who has been working with him to help stop the flow of migrants crossing the Southern border of the United States.

Young psychotherapist mom butchered inside home as cops scramble to find her killer

Empire State Building security under scrutiny after climbers’ stunt, tourist reveals possible access point

China-linked green group training US judges draws fresh heat as foreign ties fuel pressure at home

Mamdani gets roasted after telling sweltering New Yorkers to set ACs to 78 degrees: ‘Commie’

Thanks to Climate Panic, It’s 100 Degrees Inside a ‘Flagship’ Hospital Building – This Is What Leftists Want for Us (but Not Themselves)

WATCH: Trump Holds Conversation With AI Teddy Roosevelt, Gets Fresh Encouragement That He’s on the Right Path

America’s housing market could run out of something more important than homes

How Iran attacks are forcing the Pentagon to rethink its decades-old Middle East base strategy

Baby Beaten Nearly to Death by Children, 4 and 6, as Sitter Gives Most Nauseating Excuse We’ve Ever Heard

Ukraine’s 40-day missile and drone blitz heaps pressure and pain on Putin

DeSantis announces plans to use new state law to target dozens of alleged terrorist groups

Acting AG Todd Blanche says Newsom’s DOJ claims are not ‘grounded in fact’

Mexican national sentenced in border child smuggling case involving THC-laced candy

Virginia officer placed on administrative leave after malicious wounding charge tied to off duty incident

Two arrested at Costco after alleged fraudulent credit card shopping spree

President Trump was expected to meet with his advisers on Friday to discuss the designation, which he has been previewing for months.

“All necessary work has been completed to declare Mexican Cartels terrorist organizations,” he confirmed on Friday. “Statutorily we are ready to do so.”

The cartel slaughter of nine American citizens in Mexico last month — six children and three women — prompted Trump to speed up the process.

U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr met with Obrador on Thursday to discuss the president’s proposal, which the Mexican president criticized as “interventionism” and a “flagrant violation of our sovereignty.” Obrador also cited President Obama’s failed gunrunning operation “Fast and Furious” as an example of how the United States only made violence worse in Mexico.

In March, Trump told Breitbart News that he was thinking “very seriously” about the idea.

“It’s psychological, but it’s also economic,” Trump said about the cartels. “As terrorists — as terrorist organizations, the answer is yes. They are.

The designation would allow law enforcement to act swiftly against the cartels as well as target their weaponry and financial resources. The federal government would also be allowed to prosecute friends and family members of the cartels supporting them in the United States, as well as organized gangs such as MS-13.