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.

Utah man charged with attempted hate crime after alleged threat to ‘blow up’ synagogue

Trump invokes Defense Production Act to boost US fuel refining capacity at Iowa rally

‘I basically snapped’: New Jersey mayor charges at resident during chaotic council meeting

Old Social Media Post Comes Back to Haunt Virginia Democrat After She’s Arrested on Drug Trafficking Charges

New York Democrat Accused of Attacking Opponent’s Mother Inside Bathroom: ‘Not Fit to Serve’

White House Wants Karoline Leavitt’s Help Finding New Press Secretary After Katie Zacharia Disaster

Watch: Socialists and Democrats Trigger Chaotic Brawl in European Nation’s Parliament

DOJ files hate crime charges against 22-year-old accused of plotting synagogue pipe bombing

NYC votes to end nearly 170-year-old horse carriage tradition as Trump blasts ban, drivers threaten lawsuit

Erika Kirk rips ‘absurd’ 2029 trial timeline for Charlie Kirk’s alleged assassin

DOJ opens investigation into Trump ally Corey Lewandowski

Musk: Austin Shooter Was Fired by Tesla After He Struck Woman Who ‘Accidentally Stepped on His Prayer Rug’

Over 100 arrested in California after $2 billion state-federal healthcare fraud crackdowns

Fox News Poll: Nail-biter in Maine Senate race

Man accused of smashing Iwo Jima statue with sledgehammer in Quantico

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.