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.

GOP Senator Does Deep Dive on Trump Assassination Attempt and Remains Troubled by ‘Unresolved’ Questions

DHS unloads on anti-ICE Dems after man arrested with manifesto, ‘disturbing’ alleged plot to kill agents

Grand Jury Delivers Decision on Indictments for Democrats Known as the ‘Seditious Six’

Hispanic conservatives accuse House GOP hopeful of defrauding donors and activists

McConnell released from hospital after health scare, to work from home as key DHS vote looms

Democrats rip Bondi over handling of Epstein case in rowdy House hearing

Bondi has tense exchanges with lawmakers in first House hearing since confirmation

Exclusive: FBI captures longtime fugitive in Honduras in connection with 2000 killing of Philadelphia girl

Retail records could unmask potential subject in Nancy Guthrie case as experts reveal ‘clothing is evidence’

Trump Religious Liberty Commission boots member after contentious antisemitism hearing

Hardline conservatives double down to save the SAVE Act

Trump Keeps Winning: President Takes Victory Lap After Latest Job Numbers Shatter Expectations

Indicted Dem Rep. LaMonica McIver Suggests Acting ICE Director Is Doomed to Hell as Hearing Spirals Out of Control

ICE director refuses to resign under pressure from Eric Swalwell not to ‘side with killers’

Tillis rips ‘political lawfare’ and praises grand jury after Dems avoid charges in ‘illegal orders’ case

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.