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.

Hegseth ending military education ties with Harvard amid Trump feud: ‘We train warriors, not wokesters’

Hegseth says National Guard members shot in DC ambush by Afghan national will receive Purple Heart

SBA freezes over 100,000 California borrowers in sweeping $9B pandemic fraud crackdown

Israeli Government-Funded ‘Mobile Museum’ Set to Visit US Churches to Promote Zionism

Hundreds of Bizarre References to ‘Pizza’ in New Epstein Documents Raise Eyebrows

Watch: NFL Players Accidentally Prove Bad Bunny Is a Horrible Choice for Super Bowl Halftime Show

Conservative firebrand vows to purge ‘RINOs’ in battle to replace retiring Vern Buchanan in open Florida seat

When anti-ICE clashes trigger federal intervention: Experts explain the constitutional breaking point

North Carolina man charged with three counts of statutory rape held on ICE detainer

Nancy Guthrie’s Neighbor Details Mysterious Sighting Shortly Before Disappearance

Fox News Campus Radicals Newsletter: Top teachers’ union under fire, anti-ICE agitator network exposed

Actor and Producer Timothy Busfield Charged with Committing Child Sex Crimes on Set

Gonzales introduces bill to expand protections for Border Patrol assisting state, local law enforcement

Early missteps, delayed search plane response emerge in Savannah Guthrie’s mother disappearance

Democrats silent on past rhetoric toward Trump Cabinet member after foiled assassination plot

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.