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.

Trump turns to emerging tech giant in multi-billion bid to ramp up US submarine production

Trump sparks outrage for suggesting that Iran could ‘take out’ Los Angeles and San Diego

Blue city emerges as ‘suspected hotspot’ of visa fraud as swing state lawmaker demands answers

Peter Navarro seeks Supreme Court review as Trump allies brace for Democratic subpoenas

Another Country Singer Betrays: Built Career on Decent Fans, Now Zach Bryan Trades Them for Terror Apologists

DNA testing confirms body of flight attendant who was killed and thrown from bridge

Watch: Tom Homan Leaves CBS Journalist Speechless, Frozen on Camera With Simple ICE Question He Can’t Answer

Lethal injection survivor Christa Pike’s former satanist boyfriend could be released in 5 years

NYT columnist thrashed online for suggesting Trump is to blame for alleged Cornell gang rape

Millions saved by blocking dead people payouts as Trump Treasury drops hammer on federal fraud

‘Project 1619’ Marxist Creator’s Full Degeneracy Revealed: Her Sick Response When Daughter Told Her She Wanted to Be the Best

Watch: The Priceless Moment Fetterman Accidentally Declares He’s a Lifelong Republican – So Would He Be a Good One?

Battle over Daylight Saving Time erupts as push to stop changing clocks hits Senate wall

President Trump endorses Wyoming’s secretary of state for US House of Representatives

Roger Marshall wants you to know he’s a real Kansan: Fishing, back roads, and a cabin called home

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.