Addressing the United Nations this week, President Donald Trump discussed the recent U.S. strikes on Venezuelan drug dealers who were “smuggling poisonous drugs” via boats on their way to American shores. The president issued a stark warning to others participating in the drug trade, saying, “To every terrorist thug smuggling poisonous drugs into the United States of America, please be warned that we will blow you out of existence.”
Not everyone is pleased with the president’s actions, even some within his own party. Critics wonder if taking out drug dealers might be a cover for a broader military mission in Venezuela.
According to The Wall Street Journal, “President Trump says the U.S. is patrolling the Caribbean to stop narcos from bringing cocaine from South America to the U.S. But since August, the Pentagon has deployed three destroyers, three amphibious assault ships, a cruiser, and a fast-attack submarine to the region along with the Navy’s P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft. Ten F-35 jets are now in Puerto Rico.”
On the surface, this does have the look of something bigger than targeting occasional speed boats trafficking drugs to the U.S. Then again, there’s no evidence the Trump administration plans to use military force for any other reason.
“The Trump Administration said the targeted boats belonged to the Venezuelan organized crime group Tren de Aragua and were trafficking illegal narcotics,” the Journal adds. “The Cartel of the Suns, headed by dictator Nicolás Maduro, and Tren de Aragua are both U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organizations.”
U.S. actions reflect the president’s identification of many countries in Central and South America as major centers of drug production and transit.
In a State Department press release earlier this month, the president explained, “The reason countries are placed on the list is the combination of geographic, commercial, and economic factors that allow drugs or precursor chemicals to be transited or produced, even if a government has engaged in robust and diligent narcotics control and law enforcement measures.”
“In Venezuela,” the president added, “the criminal regime of indicted drug trafficker Nicolás Maduro leads one of the largest cocaine trafficking networks in the world, and the United States will continue to seek to bring Maduro and other members of his complicit regime to justice for their crimes.”
Unsurprisingly, Venezuela denies that it is a significant source of drugs coming into America.
Although the president didn’t seek a formal declaration from Congress, after the first strike on drug traffickers, he sent a letter to the Senate explaining his decision as it relates to the War Powers Resolution, which limits a president’s authority to engage the military without congressional approval.
Tren de Aragua “is a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization, operating under the control of Nicolas Maduro, responsible for mass murder, drug trafficking, sex trafficking, and acts of violence and terror across the United States and Western Hemisphere,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “The strike occurred while the terrorists were at sea in International waters transporting illegal narcotics, heading to the United States.”
In any event, many Democrats, and even some Republicans, are questioning whether Trump’s actions are constitutional or whether transporting drugs can be legally defined as an act of terror.
“An organization’s engagement in terrorism is not by itself sufficient to empower a president to unilaterally order a military attack,” writes former federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy. “Obviously, there is an exception if there is a true threat of a terrorist attack against the United States; in such instances, the president has the constitutional authority to repel the attack by whatever force is necessary, with no prerequisite of congressional authorization. But in the absence of such a threat, the president needs congressional authorization. And a shipment of illegal drugs is a crime, not a threat of terrorism, justifying an unauthorized use of lethal force.”
It’s ironic that so many critics of President Trump’s targeting of a few drug traffickers on the open seas, and outside of any nation’s territory, are suddenly apoplectic over such a small matter compared to the countless military operations over the years conducted in other countries without congressional approval. Many of those instances occurred on foreign soil, involving significant use of manpower and materiel.
Presidents Nixon, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Obama, and Trump have all engaged the military for larger military operations without a nod from Congress. And it’s Congress that’s given presidents broad authority to use the military in limited capacities to protect national interests or for humanitarian reasons, especially since 9/11. The president is called the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces for a reason.
No, President Trump isn’t planning to invade Venezuela or any other countries he’s deemed a center of drug production and trafficking. But a show of force often brings about results. As our own Nate Jackson writes, “Trump often uses threats, orders, and actual moves as much as a negotiation tool as an ultimate solution. In other words, authorizing the military might be as much about sending a message as it is having U.S. soldiers actually apprehending cartel members.”
Certainly, it’s a complex issue that can’t be solved by taking out narco-traffickers alone, but the president seems serious about tackling a problem that kills nearly 100,000 Americans every year.
Even here at home, federal agents have been engaged in operations such as the Wind River Indian Reservation to combat rampant drug smuggling, which makes the recent targeting of international drug traffickers seem part of a larger objective consistent with the administration’s stated objectives.
We’ve been hearing presidents talk about the scourge of drugs for decades, but few of them have lifted a finger to do anything about it. Now, President Trump is trying to put a dent in the international drug trade and keep drugs out of the country.
As it stands, this is a good use of American might and resources, not an abuse of power.
