Trump plans to deploy special forces to Mexico to target drug lords if he wins a second term

Presumptive Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump wants to send special forces teams to Mexico to assassinate drug lords there should he win the elections in November, Rolling Stone reported this week.

Citing three sources familiar with the candidate's thinking, the outlet detailed that Trump has endorsed the idea of covertly deploying forces even without the consent of its southern neighbor.

He has said that U.S. forces have "tougher killers than they do" and wondered why this strategy hasn't been implemented before, as it would make cartel leaders fearful. He suggested making a "kill list of drug lords" and likened potential operations to the raid that resulted in the death of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

The outlet noted that they have indeed been implemented around the world, including in Mexico and with U.S. support, but haven't worked.

Although he hasn't openly discussed the issue, Trump has vowed to "make appropriate use of Special Forces, cyber warfare, and other overt and covert actions to inflict maximum damage on cartel leadership, infrastructure, and operations."

According to a Rolling Stone report from last year, Trump directed his advisers to provide military options to attack cartels, including potential air strikes, drone attacks and troop deployments.

But Trump is far from being the only GOP member to make such suggestions. During the party's short-lived primary campaign, many of the then-candidates also advocated for the use of deadly force against cartels, even if they didn't specifically talk about killing drug lords.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said he would authorize such measures "on day one" if he were elected, while Vivek Ramaswamy proposed military operations with these purposes.

Moreover, senators Lindsey Graham and John Kennedy introduced legislation that would "give the military the authority to go after these organizations wherever they exist." Senator Tom Cotton and Rep. Morgan Luttrell also introduced bills seeking to push the Biden administration to "to capture or kill the leaders of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, the most brutal and dangerous cartel operating in Mexico." Aligned think tanks have also released policy papers endorsing this path.

Trump's approach would be blunt in all aspects. He also told Fox News in April that he wouldn't give Mexico "ten cents" to address the root causes of migrations, following a request by president Andrés Manuel López Obrador for $20 billion in investment.

"It's very simple: lack of respect for the president. They would never say that to me. They would never ask it. I wouldn't give them 10 cents," Trump said.

AMLO, as the Mexican president is known, said that despite the rhetoric Trump wouldn't fully close the border with Mexico should he win the presidency: "He needs Mexico," he said.

"Because we understood each other very well, we signed an economic, a commercial agreement that has been favorable for both peoples, for both nations. He knows it. And President Biden is the same," added AMLO, in reference to the fact that last year Mexico became the U.S.' top trading partner.

"There are factories in Mexico and there are factories in the United States that are fundamental for all the consumers in the United States and all the consumers in Mexico," López Obrador concluded.