{"id":122552,"date":"2026-02-27T05:00:22","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T10:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/if-trump-wants-to-smash-mexican-cartels-hes-got-history-and-law-on-his-side-122552"},"modified":"2026-02-27T05:00:22","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T10:00:22","slug":"if-trump-wants-to-smash-mexican-cartels-hes-got-history-and-law-on-his-side","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/if-trump-wants-to-smash-mexican-cartels-hes-got-history-and-law-on-his-side-122552","title":{"rendered":"If Trump wants to smash Mexican cartels, he’s got history and law on his side"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

With Puerto Vallarta and the state of Jalisco under siege from the cartels, American policymakers need to know that President Donald Trump<\/a> would be on strong legal ground if he chooses to hit the cartels in Mexico or anywhere in the world.<\/p>\n

Over the last four decades, the drug cartels have transported tens of thousands of military-age men over our borders, many of them carrying weapons of mass destruction like\u00a0fentanyl\u00a0or carfentanil. This isn\u2019t “migration.” It\u2019s an invasion, and, under the Constitution, the president not only has the authority, but the\u00a0duty\u00a0to act.<\/p>\n

Though the drug cartels are non-state actors, they effectively control roughly\u00a0one-third\u00a0of Mexican territory<\/a>, exerting quasi-sovereignty by extracting “taxes,” controlling the movement of people, and intimidating and extorting government into doing their will.<\/p>\n

Trump has done what no president in decades could do: he secured the Southern border and stopped the massive influx of illegal aliens and dangerous drugs. But is America required to stand back and wait for criminals to cross our borders in order to defend itself? Of course not. There is ample precedent for presidents using the military to take on non-state actors abroad who threatened the lives and livelihoods of Americans \u2014 even without congressional authorization.<\/p>\n

MADURO-BACKED TDA GANG\u2019S EXPANSION INTO US CITIES EMERGES AS KEY FOCUS OF SWEEPING DOJ INDICTMENT<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Shortly after taking office in 1801, President Thomas Jefferson famously sent the Marines “to the shores of Tripoli” to punish pirates who for years had harassed American merchant ships and demanded tribute payments. Congress was\u00a0not in session, but Jefferson neither waited for authorization nor called them into session. Despite having a relatively small navy for the time, the new president sent a squadron to the Mediterranean with orders to sink the pirates if necessary. In\u00a0August\u00a01801, the squadron sank a ship off the coast of Malta without congressional authorization. In February 1802, Congress passed an\u00a0authorization\u00a0of force \u2014 not a declaration of war.<\/p>\n

On March 9, 1916, the outlaw Pancho Villa\u2019s raiders killed three American citizens and then crossed the border to attack Columbus, New Mexico<\/a>, killing 10 American soldiers, robbing American businesses, and killing eight more civilians. Maj. Frank Tompkins\u2019s men pursued the raiders\u00a015 miles\u00a0across the Mexican border, killing 100 of them and capturing 30. Villa\u2019s men had previously\u00a0executed\u00a0a train car full of American engineers who were on their way to work in Mexico\u2019s mines. The Mexican government continually proved unable to bring Villa and his men to justice.<\/p>\n

President Woodrow Wilson called an emergency cabinet meeting on March 10. Wilson decided to send the Army into Northern Mexico, citing an 1882 treaty that allowed “hot pursuit” over the border. Wilson sent\u00a04,800 soldiers\u00a0into Mexico under General John J. “Black Jack” Pershing on a “punitive expedition” to track down Villa and his men. Congress showed their approval with a concurrent resolution\u00a0two days\u00a0after\u00a0the fact. The Mexican government protested and even fought back against the Army, but ultimately backed down in the face of American strength.<\/p>\n

JONATHAN TURLEY: MADURO OPERATION WAS LEGAL, BUT TRUMP MAKES IT COMPLICATED<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Drug cartels have killed far more Americans than either the Barbary Pirates or Pancho Villa ever did. As the DEA has said repeatedly, nearly all of the drugs killing Americans today were trafficked over our\u00a0Southern border.<\/p>\n

Some liberals and libertarians would likely object that attacking the cartels in Mexico or outside our borders would violate the War Powers Act<\/a>, which Congress passed\u00a0over President Nixon\u2019s veto\u00a0in 1973. But even if a court upheld the War Powers Act on its\u00a0merits \u2014 which has still never happened \u2014 the law merely requires that the president notify Congress of an attack within 48 hours and limits an attack to 90 days without congressional authorization.<\/p>\n

CLICK HERE FOR MORE FOX NEWS OPINION<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Since the WPA\u2019s passage, presidents of both parties have conducted military operations all over the world without congressional authorization \u2014 from Haiti to\u00a0Libya\u00a0to\u00a0Bosnia.<\/p>\n

Declarations of war have been extremely rare in our history: the last was in\u00a01942. The Founders intentionally gave the president broad and fulsome powers<\/a> to conduct military operations after the sclerotic Articles of Confederation proved unable to respond to\u00a0Shay\u2019s Rebellion\u00a0and the British\u00a0refusal\u00a0to remove troops from newly independent American territory. Presidents must be able to act quickly and decisively to protect Americans from national security threats, and the Founders gave them the tools to do just that.<\/p>\n

After President Trump took office last January, the military began Operation Southern Spear, which has involved direct attacks on drug smuggling\u00a0boats\u00a0from Venezuela. Like Jefferson\u2019s squadron against the Barbary Pirates or Wilson\u2019s “punitive expedition” against Pancho Villa, the Trump administration isn\u2019t waiting until the criminals cross our border \u2014 nor should they.<\/p>\n

The cartels have been enriching themselves for decades by getting Americans addicted to deadly drugs<\/a>, bringing tens of thousands of military-age men into our country and costing hundreds of thousands of American lives. Whether the cartels stand on American soil or on foreign soil, the president stands on solid legal ground in bringing them to justice.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Source – https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/opinion\/trump-wants-smash-mexican-cartels-hes-got-history-law-his-side <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With Puerto Vallarta and the state of Jalisco under siege from the cartels, American policymakers need to know that President Donald Trump would be on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"twitter_2902945987_2902945987":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[16563],"tags":[],"stock_ticker":[],"class_list":["post-122552","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-market-news","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nIf Trump wants to smash Mexican cartels, he's got history and law on his side - Wall Street PR<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/if-trump-wants-to-smash-mexican-cartels-hes-got-history-and-law-on-his-side-122552\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"If Trump wants to smash Mexican cartels, he's got history and law on his side - Wall Street PR\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"With Puerto Vallarta and the state of Jalisco under siege from the cartels, American policymakers need to know that President Donald Trump would be on […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/if-trump-wants-to-smash-mexican-cartels-hes-got-history-and-law-on-his-side-122552\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Wall Street PR\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/WallStreetPR\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-27T10:00:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/businessman-showing-business-evolution1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"715\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"423\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/if-trump-wants-to-smash-mexican-cartels-hes-got-history-and-law-on-his-side-122552#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/if-trump-wants-to-smash-mexican-cartels-hes-got-history-and-law-on-his-side-122552\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/#\/schema\/person\/6e00efa2abc413bdc0bca51a90c54d36\"},\"headline\":\"If Trump wants to smash Mexican cartels, he’s got history and law on his side\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-27T10:00:22+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/if-trump-wants-to-smash-mexican-cartels-hes-got-history-and-law-on-his-side-122552\"},\"wordCount\":869,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Market News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/if-trump-wants-to-smash-mexican-cartels-hes-got-history-and-law-on-his-side-122552\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/if-trump-wants-to-smash-mexican-cartels-hes-got-history-and-law-on-his-side-122552\",\"name\":\"If Trump wants to smash Mexican cartels, he's got history and law on his side - Wall Street PR\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-27T10:00:22+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/if-trump-wants-to-smash-mexican-cartels-hes-got-history-and-law-on-his-side-122552#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/if-trump-wants-to-smash-mexican-cartels-hes-got-history-and-law-on-his-side-122552\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/if-trump-wants-to-smash-mexican-cartels-hes-got-history-and-law-on-his-side-122552#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"If Trump wants to smash Mexican cartels, he’s got history and law on his side\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/\",\"name\":\"Wall Street PR\",\"description\":\"Latest News From WallStreet\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Wall Street PR\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/brand-logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/brand-logo.png\",\"width\":537,\"height\":70,\"caption\":\"Wall Street PR\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/WallStreetPR\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/WallstreetPRs\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/#\/schema\/person\/6e00efa2abc413bdc0bca51a90c54d36\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/360_F_336393115_5gCUfwn76x3MJaCJMYDKLoRebkC8QyrL-300x300.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/360_F_336393115_5gCUfwn76x3MJaCJMYDKLoRebkC8QyrL-300x300.jpg\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/author\/admin\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"If Trump wants to smash Mexican cartels, he's got history and law on his side - Wall Street PR","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/if-trump-wants-to-smash-mexican-cartels-hes-got-history-and-law-on-his-side-122552","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"If Trump wants to smash Mexican cartels, he's got history and law on his side - Wall Street PR","og_description":"With Puerto Vallarta and the state of Jalisco under siege from the cartels, American policymakers need to know that President Donald Trump would be on […]","og_url":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/if-trump-wants-to-smash-mexican-cartels-hes-got-history-and-law-on-his-side-122552","og_site_name":"Wall Street PR","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/WallStreetPR\/","article_published_time":"2026-02-27T10:00:22+00:00","og_image":[{"width":715,"height":423,"url":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/businessman-showing-business-evolution1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"admin","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/if-trump-wants-to-smash-mexican-cartels-hes-got-history-and-law-on-his-side-122552#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/if-trump-wants-to-smash-mexican-cartels-hes-got-history-and-law-on-his-side-122552"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/#\/schema\/person\/6e00efa2abc413bdc0bca51a90c54d36"},"headline":"If Trump wants to smash Mexican cartels, he’s got history and law on his side","datePublished":"2026-02-27T10:00:22+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/if-trump-wants-to-smash-mexican-cartels-hes-got-history-and-law-on-his-side-122552"},"wordCount":869,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Market News"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/if-trump-wants-to-smash-mexican-cartels-hes-got-history-and-law-on-his-side-122552","url":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/if-trump-wants-to-smash-mexican-cartels-hes-got-history-and-law-on-his-side-122552","name":"If Trump wants to smash Mexican cartels, he's got history and law on his side - Wall Street PR","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/#website"},"datePublished":"2026-02-27T10:00:22+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/if-trump-wants-to-smash-mexican-cartels-hes-got-history-and-law-on-his-side-122552#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/if-trump-wants-to-smash-mexican-cartels-hes-got-history-and-law-on-his-side-122552"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/if-trump-wants-to-smash-mexican-cartels-hes-got-history-and-law-on-his-side-122552#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"If Trump wants to smash Mexican cartels, he’s got history and law on his side"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/#website","url":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/","name":"Wall Street PR","description":"Latest News From WallStreet","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/#organization","name":"Wall Street PR","url":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/brand-logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/brand-logo.png","width":537,"height":70,"caption":"Wall Street PR"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/WallStreetPR\/","https:\/\/x.com\/WallstreetPRs"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/#\/schema\/person\/6e00efa2abc413bdc0bca51a90c54d36","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/360_F_336393115_5gCUfwn76x3MJaCJMYDKLoRebkC8QyrL-300x300.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/360_F_336393115_5gCUfwn76x3MJaCJMYDKLoRebkC8QyrL-300x300.jpg","caption":"admin"},"url":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/author\/admin"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122552"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122552\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122552"},{"taxonomy":"stock_ticker","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stock_ticker?post=122552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}