Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said he wouldn’t reveal whether the United States planned to deploy troops to Mexico.
In an interview with Fox News’s Laura Ingraham, Hegseth was asked if he foresaw any deployment of U.S. troops into Mexico.
“I can’t reveal anything, but I’m not tipping my hand that there will be U.S. troops in Mexico. That’s not what I’m saying,” Hegseth said.
“We’re watching; we know a little bit more than they think we know about them,” he added, referring to Mexican drug cartels designated foreign terrorist organizations. “We spend a lot of attention watching them. We’re focused on this. It’s a presidential priority. It’s our priority. We’re working with federal partners to identify that all across the Western Hemisphere. This is something we’re not taking lying down anymore.”
On Friday, the New York Times reported that President Donald Trump ordered the U.S. military to strike drug cartels in Mexico that had been labeled FTOs, one of his more unorthodox campaign promises. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum quickly ruled out the prospect.
“The United States is not going to come to Mexico with their military,” she said during a press conference the same day.
“We cooperate, we collaborate, but there will be no invasion. It’s off the table, absolutely off the table,” Sheinbaum continued, adding that the Mexican government was informed of the executive order directing the military to act but insisted that “it had nothing to do with the participation of any military or any institution on our territory. There is no risk that they will invade our country.”
Despite her defiance, Mexico would have few means to resist if the U.S. did invade. Long riddled by corruption, the Mexican military has almost no air force or navy to speak of. Its army is woefully inadequate, having no proper tanks and little to resist the largest military in history effectively.
SHEINBAUM INSISTS NO US ‘INVASION’ OF MEXICO AS TRUMP SENDS MILITARY AFTER CARTELS
Short of a military clash, Mexico’s resistance could also plunge it into economic ruin, given its deep reliance on the U.S.
The use of the U.S. military against the drug cartels could take many forms, but is unlikely to take the form of the “invasion” that Sheinbaum dismissed. Drone strikes targeting drug labs and cartel leaders, along with limited special forces raids, are more likely, though both would be a significant escalation from anything seen before in the U.S.’s war on drugs.
