Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is reportedly considering a controversial plan to deploy American assassination squads to Mexico to target drug cartel leaders if he is re-elected in November, according to a report by Rolling Stone.
Sources familiar with the proposal stated that Trump believes the American military has “tougher killers” than the drug cartels and is contemplating a covert operation similar to the one that took out ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in 2019.
The plan would involve creating a “kill list” of drug lords for a special-ops team to eliminate, without the consent of the Mexican government. This proposal is in line with Trump’s 2024 policy agenda, which aims to take down the drug cartels as aggressively as ISIS.
Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric has been a central theme of his campaign, with promises to stop the “invasion” at the US-Mexico border by any means necessary, including deploying troops currently stationed overseas.
Critics have accused Trump of using inflammatory language reminiscent of Nazi rhetoric, referring to migrants as “animals” and suggesting that some are “not people.” Immigration is expected to be a key issue in the 2024 election, with Trump and Republicans criticizing President Joe Biden’s handling of the border, where nearly 190,000 encounters were reported in March 2024.
While Trump’s plans for Mexico’s drug cartels have been discussed in private, his public statements and policies reflect a hardline stance on immigration and border security that continues to resonate with his supporters.