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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial
ARTICLE VIEW:
Trump admin tells Congress the US is in ‘armed conflict’ with drug
cartels
By Natasha Bertrand, CNN
Updated:
3:53 PM EDT, Thu October 2, 2025
Source: CNN
President has determined that the US is in an “armed conflict” with
the drug cartels his administration has designated as terrorist
organizations, according to a notice the Pentagon provided to Congress
on Wednesday obtained by CNN.
The notice also says the president has determined that smugglers for
the cartels are “unlawful combatants,” and therefore the Defense
Department was legally authorized to last month believed to be
transporting members of a group the administration has designated a
terrorist organization.
The US military has carried out at least three such strikes over the
last month, which have killed 17 people in total, CNN has reported. But
the notice provided to Congress only mentioned one of the strikes,
which took place on September 15. It is not clear why the other strikes
were not mentioned.
The notice did not name the group, but Trump said the first strike in
early September targeted suspected smugglers affiliated with the
Venezuelan criminal organization Tren de Aragua.
The Pentagon’s general counsel Earl Matthews and uniformed
representatives from the department also briefed lawmakers on Wednesday
about the legal justification for the strikes, a source familiar with
the briefing told CNN. The briefing largely echoed the written notice,
the source said.
“The cartels involved have grown more armed, well organized, and
violent. They have the financial means, sophistication, and
paramilitary capabilities needed to operate with impunity,” the
notice says. “These groups are now transnational and conduct ongoing
attacks throughout the Western Hemisphere as organized cartels.
Therefore, the President determined these cartels are non-state armed
groups, designated them as terrorist organizations, and determined that
their actions constitute an armed attack against the United States.”
The New York Times on the notice to Congress.
Describing the US military strikes as part of an armed conflict
suggests that the attacks are part of a longer-term campaign and not
just one-off strikes in self-defense. CNN has reported that at least
one boat struck by the US military last month had turned around and was
heading away from the US when it was hit, suggesting it did not pose an
imminent threat to the US or US forces.
“Although this strike was limited in scope, U.S. forces remain
postured to carry out military operations as necessary to prevent
further deaths or injury to American citizens by eliminating the threat
posed by these designated terrorist organizations,” the notice says.
The president has the authority under Article II of the Constitution to
use military force when it is in the national interest, and when it
does not amount to “war” in the constitutional sense, which
requires an act of Congress. But he is still required to establish that
the targets of a US military attack are legitimate ones who should be
treated as combatants under both international and domestic law.
The new legal justification is significant because cartel members and
drug smugglers have traditionally been treated as criminals with due
process rights — not enemy combatants, which strips them of due
process and allows a country to lawfully kill them. CNN that the
administration was weighing applying the “enemy combatant”
designation to suspected narco-terrorists both outside and within the
US to justify imprisoning them indefinitely or carrying out lethal
strikes against them.
Democratic Sen. Jack Reed, the ranking member of the Senate Armed
Services Committee, said in a statement to CNN that “the Trump
Administration has offered no credible legal justification, evidence,
or intelligence for these strikes.”
“Drug cartels are despicable and must be dealt with by law
enforcement,” he added. “But now, by the President’s own words,
the U.S. military is engaged in armed conflict with undefined enemies
he has unilaterally labeled ‘unlawful combatants,’ and he has
deployed thousands of troops, ships, and aircraft against them. Yet he
has refused to inform Congress or the public. Every American should be
alarmed that their President has decided he can wage secret wars
against anyone he calls an enemy.”
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