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.

Bon Voyage: Alleged Spousal Abuser Dem Katie Porter Announces She’s Done With Politics After California Gubernatorial Disaster

Platner Part 2? ‘Firejumper’ Running for Seat That Could Determine Who Wins House Actually Lobbyist Defending Transing Kids, Drag Shows in Libraries

‘Somebody needs to do something’: GOP senators split as Tuberville demands McConnell answers

Five takeaways from Todd Blanche hearing as Trump’s attorney general pick gains more GOP favor

Trump AG pick hangs by a thread as key GOP senators refuse to commit

‘I Knew It Was On Me’ – TV Reporter Somehow Holds It Together as Giant Bug Crawls Across Her Chest While She’s On Camera

AOC paid pro-Palestinian activist who fundraised for refugee camps suspected of being Hamas strongholds

House Campaign Cash Tracker: Democratic challengers raise big money, but GOP incumbents maintain advantage

Two families sue North Dakota hospital on allegations babies were switched at birth

ICE arrests record 238 illegal immigrants in one day during South Texas enforcement operation

Lindsey Graham’s final act reverberates in Senate as sister is urged to “keep pedaling”

Karoline Leavitt to hold first press briefing since return from maternity leave

Louisiana man accused of killing deputy US marshal faces possible death penalty

Trump says Iran released American woman held since 2024 in ‘gesture of goodwill’

Tim Walz offers strange defense for pardoning convicted child rapist Trump administration deported

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.