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.

Attacks Against Christians Rise in Major European Country

Pence says Iran agreement ‘smacks of the kind of appeasement’ Trump rejected in prior term

Supreme Court Allows Gun Ruling Favoring Letitia James to Stand

Obama Center isn’t a traditional presidential library. Critics say it’s an activism center.

NYPD cop shoots suspect attempting to flee in stolen vehicle, officials say

Georgia pair charged with murder after bartender’s dismembered remains found in lake outside Atlanta

Southwest jet struck by ground equipment vehicle at Memphis airport

Second Amendment Groups Target Purple State’s Decades-Long ‘Permission Slip’ Scheme With New Lawsuit

Artificial Intelligence May Change American Healthcare Forever, Study Suggests

Judge Demands Public See the Truth About Karmelo Anthony, Orders Release of Footage Surrounding Murder

Concertgoer dies after apparent fall from upper level at Madison Square Garden

‘The Era of Deportations Has Begun’: European Parliament Passes Toughest Immigration Policy in Decades

Multiple hikers dead amid scorching Grand Canyon temperatures

Mark Levin blasts Trump administration over Israel: ‘Stop trashing, smearing, bullying’ ally

Trump’s Iran gamble divides GOP hawks and ‘America First’ conservatives over what victory looks like

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.