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Trump unleashes US military power on cartels. Is a wider war looming?
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President Donald Trump is spearheading a military buildup in the Caribbean, already signing off on a series of U.S. military strikes against alleged drug vessels from Venezuela.
So far, the Trump administration has conducted at least three deadly strikes against alleged drug smuggling boats, prompting some lawmakers in Congress to question the legality of these strikes and request additional oversight.
The strikes are the latest escalation from the Trump administration as it moves to crack down on drug cartels and the influx of illicit drugs into the U.S. And they come after the administration designated drug cartel groups like Tren de Aragua, the Sinaloa Cartel and others as foreign terrorist organizations in February.
Building up naval forces in the Caribbean gives the U.S. the capacity to not only conduct such strikes in international waters near Venezuela, but also within Venezuela itself, according to Geoff Ramsey, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council international affairs think tank.
TRUMP SAYS ‘WE’LL SEE WHAT HAPPENS’ WHEN ASKED ABOUT POSSIBILITY OF STRIKING VENEZUELA AMID RISING TENSIONS
President Donald Trump is spearheading a military buildup in the Caribbean. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
In August, Trump approved sending several U.S. Navy guided missile destroyers to bolster the administration’s counter-narcotics efforts in the region.
«Whether we see more consequential strikes will depend more on political calculations in Washington than on operational capability,» Ramsey said in an email Wednesday to Fox News Digital. «The administration could use the strikes as occasional shows of force, or it could escalate into a more systematic campaign. But the risk of doing so would be that we could destabilize Venezuela and spark an internal armed conflict with no clear end game.»
Ramsey said the strikes come with a «real risk of escalation» and said that Venezuela views them as violations of sovereignty. Additionally, attacks inside Venezuelan territory could ignite a «cycle of retaliation,» he said.
«That would raise the prospect of a wider confrontation between the U.S. and Venezuelan forces, which could potentially end up sparking an internal armed conflict in the South American country, which could destabilize the region,» Ramsey said.
«So far President Trump seems aware of these risks, which is why the strikes so far have been carefully framed as counter-narcotics operations in international waters rather than an overt attack on the Venezuelan government.»
After Trump sent the destroyers to the U.S. Southern Command, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro said his country was prepared to respond to any attacks, adding that the move amounted to «an extravagant, unjustifiable, immoral and absolutely criminal and bloody threat.»
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The USS Gravely and several other destroyers have been deployed to the U.S. Southern Command as the Trump administration takes on drug cartels and President Nicolás Maduro. (Getty Images)
Following the second strike, Maduro said the incident is part of a larger effort «to intimidate and seek regime change» in Venezuela. The Trump administration has said it does not recognize Maduro as a legitimate head of state and views him as a leader of a drug cartel.
Meanwhile, members of Congress have cast doubt on whether the strikes the Trump administration approved are even legal in the first place. For example, senators Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and Tim Kaine, D-Va., filed a war powers resolution Friday that would block U.S. forces from engaging in «hostilities» against certain non-state organizations.
Senators Tim Kaine, D-Va., pictured here, and Adam Schiff, D-Calif., recently filed a war powers resolution that would block U.S. forces from engaging in «hostilities» against certain non-state organizations. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
«President Trump has no legal authority to launch strikes or use military force in the Caribbean or elsewhere in the Western Hemisphere. The Administration has refused to provide Congress with basic information about the multiple strikes it has carried out, including who was killed, why it was necessary to put service members’ lives at risk, and why a standard interdiction operation wasn’t conducted,» Kaine said in a statement Friday.
«Congress simply cannot let itself be stiff-armed as this Administration continues to flout the law.»
The Senate will be required to consider and vote upon the resolution.
Even so, the Trump administration has indicated from the beginning it’s prepared for additional strikes.
«Obviously, they won’t be doing it again,» Trump told reporters in September after the first military strike. «And I think a lot of other people won’t be doing it again. When they watch that tape, they’re going to say, ‘Let’s not do this.’ We have to protect our country, and we’re going to. Venezuela has been a very bad actor.»
Likewise, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth signaled the U.S. military would launch future strikes on other drug vessels attempting to smuggle narcotics into the U.S.
TRUMP ANNOUNCES US MILITARY CONDUCTED ‘LETHAL STRIKE’ ON VENEZUELAN DRUG BOAT IN CARIBBEAN
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth signaled the U.S. military would launch future strikes on other drug vessels attempting to smuggle narcotics into the U.S. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
«We’ve got assets in the air, assets in the water, assets on ships because this is a deadly serious mission for us, and it won’t, it won’t stop with just this strike,» Hegseth told Fox News in September after the first strike.
«Anyone else trafficking in those waters who we know is a designated narco-terrorist will face the same fate.»
However, the strikes likely will not continue long term as boat traffic in the region dies down in response to the strikes, according to Bryan Clark, director of the Hudson Institute think tank’s Center for Defense Concepts and Technology.
«These strikes will probably intensify for a couple weeks and then abate as fewer boats attempt to make the crossing. That is likely the intent of the operation,» Clark said in an email Tuesday to Fox News Digital. «I think it is very unlikely to result in a broader conflict because the Venezuelan government will not want one.»
white house,secretary of defense,donald trump,pete hegseth,venezuelan political crisis
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Sanctuary policies let alleged child predator roam free until DHS made Portland, Oregon, airport arrest
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FIRST ON FOX: The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) arrested an illegal migrant who was charged with rape, purchasing sex with a minor, and sexual abuse in Oregon, after the migrant was released on bail by sanctuary policies.
Manuel Cruz-Ramirez, who still faces the slew of charges, was not referred to immigration officers upon his arrest and release due to Marion County’s sanctuary status.
The illegal immigrant from Mexico was apprehended only because he was using a fraudulent Mexican passport at the Portland International Airport. TSA and CBP agents were flagged when his falsified name did not return full data, according to DHS.
«Manuel Cruz-Ramirez was arrested for rape, purchasing sex with a minor, and sexual abuse in Oregon,» DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Fox News Digital. «The state’s sanctuary politicians allowed this pedophile to be released from jail back into American communities.»
An anti-ICE agitator chants and gestures at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility, Jan. 9, in Portland, Ore. (Mathieu Lewis-Rolland/Getty Images)
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In non-sanctuary cities, Cruz-Ramirez would have referred to immigration officers, who would have apprehended him before he was released from detention.
«Americans can be proud of the swift actions of TSA and CBP for protecting them and our judicial system by preventing this monster from fleeing the country,» McLaughlin explained. «Criminal illegal aliens should not be released from jails back onto our streets to terrorize more innocent Americans.
«Oregon’s sanctuary politicians must stop this reckless insanity of releasing child predators from jail back into our neighborhoods to prey on more innocent children,» she added.
DHS DEMANDS MN LEADERS HONOR ICE DETAINERS, ALLEGES HUNDREDS OF CRIMINAL ALIENS HAVE BEEN RELEASED UNDER WALZ
Federal immigration enforcement officers deploy tear gas as hundreds of anti-ICE agitators march from Portland City Hall to an ICE facility, Feb. 1, in Portland, Ore. (Sean Bascom/Anadolu via Getty Images)
DHS also told Fox News Digital that Cruz-Ramirez had been deported from the U.S. in 2018, though he re-entered the country at an unknown location and time. He is now in ICE custody and his removal order has been re-instated.
Portland has been one of several cities where agitators have mobilized to confront and protest federal law enforcement.
On Thursday, Fox News Digital reported that DHS launched an investigation into an Oregon resident who was arrested during a traffic stop with knives and materials to make Molotov cocktails.
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The 18-year-old Oregon resident allegedly authored a manifesto with the intention of killing ICE at a Portland ICE office. The individual reportedly told authorities that he was planning on picking up an AR-15 rifle to carry out the attack.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly backed DHS Secretary Kristi Noem. (Jim Watson/Getty Images)
Democrats, including those in Congress, have referred to ICE agents as Nazis and gestapo, and the Trump administration has said that such rhetoric is endangering the lives of law enforcement officers across the country.
During an interview with Fox News Digital earlier this month, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem noted the difference between some cities and those which are controlled by far-left leaders, saying that in cities where authorities cooperate with federal law enforcement there is far less conflict.
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«Minneapolis and St. Paul, the Twin Cities, have an opportunity to do the same thing that Memphis did. There we had a Democrat mayor who worked with us,» Noem told Fox News Digital. «It was about the same size as a city, about the same amount of federal law enforcement officers were there, and we dramatically cut crime and murder rates and partnered well together.»
Fox News’ Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report.
immigration,illegal immigrants,migrant crime,portland,oregon,kristi noem,homeland security
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European nation votes to cap population at 10M in major immigration crackdown referendum
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Switzerland is set to vote this summer on a proposal aimed at capping the country’s population at 10 million, the latest effort by the nation’s leading right-wing party to restrict immigration.
The Swiss People’s Party (SVP), which holds the most seats in parliament, announced the referendum on Wednesday after gathering enough support through petition signatures.
The measure, which will be put on the national ballot on June 14, comes just as the population neared 9.1 million, according to the Federal Statistics Office.
The anti-immigration campaign was proposed as officials noted that foreign-born residents now make up about 27 percent of the population.
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Snow covers the hills around Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 19, 2020. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File)
The SVP, which has long sought to curb rising migration, said that more than 1 million immigrants from the European Union (EU) came to Switzerland in 2024.
The party called the situation «uncontrolled immigration,» saying that «the majority of the Swiss population suffers» from increased demand on environmental resources and infrastructure.
«Our small country is bursting at the seams,» the party said. «Nature is being paved over. There are ever more traffic jams on the roads, overburdened public transport, overburdened schools, housing shortage and rising rents, massively increasing crime and exploding costs for Swiss taxpayers.»
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A massive crowd waves numerous Swiss flags on January 10, 2026, in Adelboden, Switzerland. (Christophe Pallot/Agence Zoom/Getty Images)
If the measure is enshrined into law, both Swiss citizens and foreign residents must not exceed a total population of 10 million before 2050.
If the population reaches 9.5 million before then, the government may take steps to curb growth by introducing measures on asylum and family reunification, noting that many immigrants — primarily Muslim men from North Africa, the Middle East, and Afghanistan — enter through asylum applications.
GREENLAND’S PRIME MINISTER SAYS ‘WE CHOOSE DENMARK’ OVER THE US
Major Swiss political parties outside the SVP, including centrist, left-leaning and liberal groups, have reportedly rejected the initiative.
Critics cautioned that the passing of such measure could strain Switzerland’s relations with its European neighbors, as most foreign-born residents hail from other EU countries.
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Flags of the member states of the European Union blow in the wind at dusk in front of the European Parliament on November 27, 2019 in Strasbourg, France. (Thierry Monasse/Getty Images)
In response, the SVP said lawmakers «could not have made it clearer that they don’t care about the concerns of the population, which is increasingly suffering from uncontrolled immigration.»
They also stressed that they do not intend to terminate the «free movement of persons agreement with the EU,» which allows European citizens to move and work freely across borders, and said such cancellation would remain a last resort if the Federal Council fails to limit immigration.
europe,the european union,travel,immigration
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