The Trump administration is preparing for covert missions to target cartel leaders and drug laboratories inside Mexico, according to two U.S. officials and two former senior officials who spoke with NBC News.
Although no deployment is imminent, U.S. personnel are reportedly training for potential ground operations on Mexican soil. The scope and authorization of those missions remain unclear:
The U.S. troops, many of whom would be from Joint Special Operations Command, would operate under the authority of the U.S. intelligence community, known as Title 50 status, the two current officials said. They said officers from the CIA also would participate.
A U.S. mission using American forces to hit drug cartel targets inside Mexico would open a new front in President Donald Trump’s military campaign against drug cartels in the Western Hemisphere. So far, the administration has focused on Venezuela and conducting strikes on alleged drug-carrying boats.
The plan represents a departure from previous U.S. policy, which primarily offered indirect support to Mexican security forces. The shift could test relations with Mexico, even as the two countries have recently expanded cooperation through CIA surveillance flights and the extradition of 55 cartel suspects.
NBC News continues:
If the mission is given the final green light, the administration plans to maintain secrecy around it and not publicize actions associated with it, as it has with recent bombings of suspected drug-smuggling boats, the two current and two former U.S. officials said.
“The Trump administration is committed to utilizing an all-of-government approach to address the threats cartels pose to American citizens,” a senior administration official said in response to this story.
When contacted by NBC News, the CIA declined to comment, while the Pentagon referred all inquiries to the White House.
The development follows Trump’s February 2025 decision to label six Mexican cartels as foreign terrorist organizations — part of a wider effort that has included strikes on alleged Venezuelan-linked drug traffickers, resulting in 64 deaths since September.
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