Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., is unveiling a resolution today aimed at granting the Trump administration full authority to deploy the U.S. military against nine of the most dangerous criminal organizations that have spread violence across American cities. The measure seeks to give President Trump the power to “take a sledgehammer” to the cartels using the full strength of U.S. armed forces.
The resolution authorizes military action against Tren de Aragua, MS-13, the Sinaloa Cartel, and several others, asserting that these groups have “violated the territorial integrity of the United States” and pose “a clear and evident danger” to the American people. It cites the more than 110,000 opioid-related deaths per year during the peak of the border crisis under the Biden administration, as well as acts of terrorism, extrajudicial killings, and other violent crimes carried out by these organizations.
Declaring that the U.S. military has a duty to protect the nation from both foreign and domestic threats, the resolution states: “The President is authorized to use the Armed Forces of the United States as the President determines necessary and appropriate against the covered cartels, any forces directly coordinated or affiliated with any covered cartel, and any successor organization or forces to any such covered cartel.”
“These are not ragtag bands of low-level lawbreakers but organized criminal enterprises that profit off death and addiction,” Steube said. “We can no longer ignore the deliberate invasion of Mexican drug cartels into our neighborhoods and communities. Far too many innocent people have suffered at the hands of the cartels.”
Steube argued that until the Mexican government “finally steps up” to dismantle the cartels, the U.S. must take direct action. “My joint resolution will authorize the Trump administration to use the full force of the American military against the nine largest drug cartels operating out of Mexico,” he stated.
