President Trump sat down for an exclusive interview with former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly on Tuesday. During their interview, Bill O’Reilly asked Trump about the serious issue with Mexican drug cartels on our southern border.

President Trump responded to O’Reilly’s question by saying he plans to designate Mexican drug cartels as, “Foreign Terrorist Organizations.” Trump told O’Reilly that the “terrorist” designation will give the U.S. more power to deal with the massive influx of drugs and drug-related murders by the cartels.

O’Reilly: “One of the things that you’ve said to me, is that if another country murdered 100,000 Americans with guns we would go to war with that country, yet the Mexican drug cartels kill more than 100,000 Americans every year by the importation of dangerous narcotics.”

“Are you going to designate those cartels in Mexico as terror groups and start hitting them with drones and things like that?”

Trump: “I don’t want to say what I am going to do, but they will be designated,” Trump replied. “I’ve already offered Mexico, to let us go in and clean it out and he so far has rejected the offer but at some point, something has to be done. Look, we are losing 100,000 people a year to what is happening and what is coming through on Mexico.”

O’Reilly: “So you are going to designate the Mexican cartels as terror groups?”

Trump: “Yeah, I will be. I have been working on that for the last 90 days. You know designation is not that easy, you have to go through a process, and we are well into that process.”

Mexico’s Secretary of Foreign Relations said in a statement that Mexico’s Foreign Secretary will contact Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to discuss “this very important issue.”

The Mexican government tweeted:

Here is the English translation:

Regarding the statements of the President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, made in an interview with Bill O’Reilly, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reports that it has entered into communication with the various corresponding authorities of that country to know the content and the scope of the statements in that space.

Likewise, the Foreign Secretary will establish contact with his counterpart, Michael R. Pompeo, in order to discuss this very important issue for the bilateral agenda. By virtue of the good relations that exist between the two countries, the Government of Mexico will seek to have a high-level meeting as soon as possible to present Mexico’s position and know the views of the United States authorities. As in other issues on the bilateral agenda, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will promote dialogue and a roadmap that allows us to move forward to reduce the flow of weapons and money to organized crime from the United States to Mexico, as well as chemical and drug precursors that cross our territory to the north country.

For what is inferred from the declaration, and based on the information that so far the authorities of our neighboring country have sent us, it is estimated that the meeting proposed by Mexico may be held in the near future. The Government of Mexico will continue its diplomatic work towards an understanding that, from cooperation and intelligence, guarantees the security of both countries.

 

Join The Conversation. Leave a Comment.


We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.