Democrats Rush to Defend Cartel Smugglers as Trump Targets Narco-Terrorists Killing Americans
Democrats in Washington are rushing to defend the very criminals smuggling deadly narcotics into the United States – offering sympathy to cartel operatives even as fentanyl continues killing more than 100,000 Americans every year.
Since September 2025, U.S. military forces have carried out a series of precision strikes on cartel-operated smuggling vessels in the Caribbean Sea and Eastern Pacific.
The campaign – launched after the Trump administration formally designated the major cartels as narcoterrorism organizations – has destroyed at least 20 vessels, including a narco-submarine, and eliminated more than 80 individuals tied to cartel trafficking routes.
Each vessel carried enough narcotics or precursor chemicals to kill thousands. Yet several Democratic lawmakers are now publicly defending the smugglers.
Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., went as far as to claim, "There is no such thing as a narco-terrorist."
Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., referring to cartel smugglers targeted in a recent strike, described them as "two helpless men." Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., dismissed cartel operations entirely, saying of the narcotics traffickers, “It’s the way they make money.”
And perhaps most shocking, Washington Rep. Adam Smith insisted that narco-terrorists are “not a direct threat to the lives” of the American people.
These statements stand in stark contrast to the real-world devastation cartels inflict on American families. Fentanyl – smuggled almost entirely by cartel networks – remains the number-one cause of death for Americans ages 18-45.
Tell that to the parents in Illinois, Ohio, or Kentucky who buried teenagers last month after taking a single counterfeit pill laced with fentanyl.
Every smuggling boat destroyed represents a supply chain severed, an overdose prevented, a life potentially saved.
Not a single American mother is mourning because a boat full of fentanyl precursors never reached the U.S. coast – and that is exactly the point of these missions.
Yet Democrats appear more concerned about the "rights" and “well-being” of cartel couriers than the families burying their children from overdoses.
These are the same lawmakers who spent years undermining Trump’s border wall, opposing tougher asylum rules, and dismissing warnings about cartel expansion.
Critics of the operation – including some foreign governments – have argued that a few individuals killed may have been "low-level" smugglers.
But U.S. officials note that participating in cartel trafficking at any level directly contributes to mass-casualty drug distribution.
Cartels now operate with military-grade infrastructure, encrypted communications, armed security, and vessels designed to outrun or evade U.S. interdiction.
They kill more Americans annually than al-Qaida ever did – yet Democrats claim they pose "no direct threat."
The administration’s legal position treats cartel operatives as "unlawful combatants," mirroring the authorities used in America’s post-9/11 counterterrorism campaigns. Republicans say this reflects reality: cartels function as paramilitary organizations responsible for mass death inside the United States.
Democrats, however, are painting cartel smugglers as victims.
As fentanyl pours across borders and overdoses ravage communities from Appalachia to the Midwest, the sharp divide couldn't be clearer.
One party is focused on dismantling the global narcotics machine killing Americans. The other is offering sympathy – and political cover – to the criminals running it.
The American people deserve leaders who stand with grieving families – not with the cartels poisoning their children.
From 2007-2010, Mark Vargas served as a civilian in the Office of the U.S. Secretary of Defense, traveling to Baghdad, Iraq, 14 times. Follow Mark on Twitter: @markavargas. Read Mark Vargas' Reports — Click Here Now.
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