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.

Invasion of Texas: Dallas-Fort Worth Airport to Put Islamic Foot Wash Stations in Bathrooms

Watch: CNN Data Analyst Admits People Simply ‘Don’t Care’ About Left-Wing Climate Alarmism Anymore

Justice Department slams ‘politically motivated demands’ of DC Council asking govs to remove National Guard

Mamdani’s openness to campaigning with Hochul shows how far they’ve come

DOJ threatens California with lawsuit over ‘unbroken pattern’ of sexual abuse in women’s prisons

Trump admin marks 15 straight months with zero border releases as apprehensions plunge 94%

Slain NJ mom Brooke Hanlon’s family backs investigators two months after her stabbing death

Postpartum mom Lindsay Clancy on trial for murder brings court to a halt with sudden breakdown

Trump State Department Axes Biden-Era Initiative That Sought to Spread DEI Around the World

Why She Left: Details of Karoline Leavitt’s (Not So) Abrupt Departure and Just How Much Trump Adores Her

California Dem ripped for ‘perverted agenda’ ahead of fundraiser at risqué nightclub

GOP congressman’s ex-wife sues, alleging sensitive image of 2-year-old daughter was posted online

Extremism expert hailed as ‘terrific’ by ex-Biden official slapped with federal charges

Florida State University hit with federal civil rights investigation over race, sex-based scholarship programs

Dinesh D’Souza Shows the Truth of the Bible Through Biblical Archaeology

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.