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Days after the United States carried out an operation in Venezuela, capturing the country’s president, Nicolas Maduro, who Washington accused of leading a drug cartel, President Donald Trump has warned of a similar military action in neighbouring Mexico.
“We’ve knocked out 97% of the drugs coming in by water, and we are going to start now hitting land with regard to the cartels,” Trump told Fox News.
BREAKING: Trump implies that he’s going to start bombing Mexico.
“We are gonna start hitting LAND with regard to the cartels. The cartels are running Mexico”
Someone get me out of this nightmare. Imagine how much more peaceful a world this would be if Kamala Harris had won… pic.twitter.com/ogh58RHJaT
— Brian Krassenstein (@krassenstein) January 9, 2026
Since September 2025, the Trump administration has killed at least 115 people in more than 30 strikes on alleged drug-transporting boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific.
Drug trafficking through US-Mexico border
The US and Mexico share a border of around 3,145 kilometres, stretching from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico. Successive US governments have long accused their counterparts in Mexico of failing to crack down on the cartels smuggling drugs across the border.
Throughout his three presidential campaigns, Trump had made stopping the flow of illegal immigrants and drugs to the US from Mexico, one of his key promises.
US sanctions Mexican cartels
In February 2025, the US State Department had designated several major Mexican criminal organizations, including Sinaloa Cartel, Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación, Cártel del Noreste, La Nueva Familia Michoacana, Cártel del Golfo and Carteles Unidos as Foreign Terrorist Organizations and Specially Designated Global Terrorists.
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‘Cartels are running Mexico’
On Thursday, Trump said Mexico was being run by the cartels.
“The cartels are running Mexico—it’s very, very sad to watch, and see what’s happened to that country,” he said.
Mexican President responds
Responding to Trump’s comments, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said that she has asked her foreign affairs secretary to reach out directly to Secretary of State Marco Rubio or the US President himself.
Sheinbaum also downplayed the remarks, saying “it is part of his way of communicating.” She said she asked her Foreign Affairs Secretary, Juan Ramón de la Fuente, to strengthen coordination with the US.
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Sheinbaum has repeatedly rebuffed Trump’s offer to send US troops after Mexican drug cartels. She has insisted that there will be no violation of Mexico’s sovereignty, but the two governments will continue to collaborate closely.
