President Trump has signaled a dramatic escalation in the United States’ campaign against drug cartels, saying Thursday night that U.S. forces will shift gears from maritime operations to land-based strikes targeting cartel infrastructure in Mexico and beyond. Trump made the comments in an interview on Fox News with host Sean Hannity, framing the move as the next phase in a national security effort to stop deadly drugs from reaching American streets.
“We’re going to start now hitting land with regard to the cartels,” Trump said, arguing that criminal organizations are effectively “running Mexico” and killing large numbers of Americans with fentanyl and other illicit substances. He claimed that after months of naval strikes targeting smuggling boats, the U.S. has stopped a very high percentage of drug flows by sea and must now tackle land networks directly.
🚨 Trump says the US will be conducting land strikes against the cartels. "We are gonna start now hitting land, with regard to the cartels. The cartels are running Mexico." pic.twitter.com/63sOf5NWIy
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) January 9, 2026
Trump linked the cartel threat to the devastating toll of drug-related deaths in the United States, portraying land strikes as an urgent step in stopping the flow of narcotics. His comments reflect a willingness to use military force in new ways, following controversial U.S. operations in Venezuela, including the capture of President Nicolás Maduro.
But the announcement has already provoked significant pushback. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has condemned the idea of military action on Mexican soil as a violation of national sovereignty and insisted that any intervention without consent would be rejected. Sheinbaum has described Trump’s remarks as part of his communication style and stressed the importance of stronger diplomatic coordination rather than unilateral intervention.
Legal and diplomatic experts warn that any land strikes in Mexico would raise serious questions about international law and bilateral relations, since Mexico is a sovereign nation and a key U.S. security partner. Just days earlier, 72 House Democrats wrote to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio saying unilateral military action in Mexico without consent and without congressional authorization would be “disastrous”, undermining cooperation that has yielded extraditions and seizures of cartel leaders.
Even as Trump promotes the land-strike concept as part of his broader anti-drug strategy, details remain scarce about how such operations would be carried out, where they would take place, or how they would square with existing international agreements. Mexican officials stress cooperation on arrests and extraditions rather than military invasion is the ongoing method for combating cartels.
Whether this rhetoric turns into concrete military orders or remains a bargaining chip in negotiations with Mexico, it represents one of the most aggressive foreign-policy stances against drug trafficking ever voiced by a U.S. president, and one likely to reshape U.S.–Mexico relations if pursued.
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