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.

Democrats who ‘never voted Republican’ back Rogers over El-Sayed in razor-close race

Angel Dad takes major new role after daughter’s killing sparks sweeping illegal alien crackdown

Police identify suspect accused of terrorizing Philadelphia women while wearing creepy Chucky-style mask

Philadelphia woman says she used stage combat training to fight off masked man chasing residents

Key Democratic Senate Candidate’s Campaign Descends Into ‘Complete Chaos’

FBI raids Eric Swalwell’s property, seizes devices at airport in sexual misconduct investigation

Sherrill escalates Trump fight over voter fiasco day after Mullin praises NJ cooperation

ActBlue co-founder pleads Fifth Amendment in closed-door House GOP grilling

Ocasio-Cortez endorses Massachusetts Senate incumbent Ed Markey

USS George Washington arrives in Middle East

Presumed Lead Candidate to Replace Karoline Leavitt Says She’s ‘Not in the Running’

U.S. Conducting Successful ‘Stealth Operation’ in the Strait of Hormuz: Report

Harry and Meghan Abandoning US, Returning to Britain as Eye-Watering Monthly Cost of Their CA Mansion Is Revealed

Bloodied, ejected Marine Corps pilot seen calm and collected after Washington crash destroys aircraft

New judge has days to decide whether Karmelo Anthony’s conviction and 35-year sentence survive

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.