Our Nation's 47th Commander in Chief Finds Powerful Allies in Americans of Mexican Descent to Defeat Cartels Once and for All
For years, Washington politicians talked while cartels killed.
Entire communities were poisoned by fentanyl.
Women and children were trafficked. Families on both sides of the border lived in fear.
U.S. President Donald J. Trump is changing that — and Mexican Americans are increasingly standing with him.
The political class continues to miss an uncomfortable truth: a strong majority of Americans with Mexican roots support aggressive action against Mexican drug cartels, including the use of U.S. military force if necessary.
This isn’t about politics. It's about survival.
Recent polling shows that 71% of Americans support using military force against drug cartels operating in Latin America. That includes most Democrats and independents.
This is not a fringe view.
It reflects a nation exhausted by fentanyl deaths that now claim hundreds of thousands of American lives.
Among Latinos – particularly Mexican American communities – support is even stronger.
Surveys tied to Trump's proposals show roughly 70% backing tough anti-cartel measures, including intervention if Mexico's government refuses to act.
In 2024, Trump captured roughly 45% of the Latino vote – one of the strongest showings by a Republican in modern history.
Border security, cartel violence, and drug enforcement were central reasons.
That momentum was underscored Thursday night when President Trump appeared on Sean Hannity's show on Fox News. Trump revealed a major escalation in the fight against drug trafficking.
"We've knocked out 97% of the drugs coming in by water," Trump said. "And we are going to start now hitting land, with regard to the cartels. The cartels are running Mexico."
Trump called the situation "very, very sad to watch," warning that cartel-controlled drug pipelines are "killing 250,000 to 300,000 people in our country every single year," primarily through fentanyl and other opioids.
Those words resonate deeply with Mexican American families who live with cartel violence as a daily reality.
The media often portrays Mexican Americans as opposed to U.S. action in Mexico.
That narrative collapses under scrutiny.
Many families with deep ties to Mexico have relatives living in cartel-controlled regions.
They know the reality.
They get the phone calls.
They hear about the kidnappings.
They attend the funerals.
For these families, cartels are not an abstract policy issue.
They are terrorists.
Juan Centeno, an American with Mexican heritage, articulates what many experience firsthand, "Mexican Americans are afraid to visit their ancestral land for fear of cartels."
Centeno recounts a harrowing experience traveling by bus in central Mexico, where cartel members boarded and demanded cash payments under threat of violence.
"Everyone paid," he said. "We all knew what would happen if we didn't."
The psychological toll is just as devastating. Families hear stories of relatives kidnapped, extorted through so-called "street taxes,"or having daughters taken.
There is no justice.
No protection. No escape.
Centeno's conclusion is blunt, "The Mexican government is incapable of fighting the cartels. They are either afraid or bought and paid for. We need U.S. intervention."
Momentum has also been reinforced by recent U.S. action abroad.
After the capture of Nicolas Maduro, even CNN acknowledged that a strong majority of Americans — including Democrats — support Maduro standing trial for narco-trafficking.
When criminals who poison Americans are finally held accountable, the public rallies behind it.
That lesson hasn’t been lost on voters watching Mexico spiral.
Cartels now control territory, ports, cattle bound for the United States, and key migration routes. They flood American cities with fentanyl, murder journalists and politicians, and exploit migrants as human cargo.
By any honest definition, these groups are transnational terrorist organizations.
Communities with family ties to Mexico understand this better than most.
Their anger is not directed at the United States — it is directed at cartel impunity and the Mexican government’s repeated failures.
Even within Mexico, attitudes are shifting.
Polls show nearly half of Mexicans support accepting U.S. help against cartels, with some surveys showing majority support for U.S. forces targeting cartel leaders directly.
That alone should end the fiction that only Americans favor action.
President Trump's approach is blunt, unapologetic, and effective. Designate the cartels as terrorists. Cut off their money.
Eliminate their leadership. Restore the rule of law where none exists.
Mexican Americans aren’t confused about who the enemy is.
They live with the consequences. And increasingly, they are sending a clear message: enough is enough.
Under President Trump, America is done looking the other way.
The cartels have had decades of mercy.
That era is now over.
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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