Pete Hegseth Reportedly Threatened Mexico With Military Action Over Cartels
AP Photo/Alex Brandon
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth suggested on a call with leaders in Mexico last month that U.S. military action inside their country was on the table if they did not take on drug cartels, according to a report published Friday.
Per a report from The Wall Street Journal, leaders in the country felt a mix of shock and indignation after Hegseth spoke with Mexico’s top military leaders on Jan. 31.
Per the report, the former Fox News weekend host made what was interpreted as a threat that left Mexico’s government scurrying to show the Trump administration results on drug and human smuggling under the threat of tariffs:
It was the first call U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth held with Mexico’s top military officials, and it wasn’t going well.
Hegseth told the officials that if Mexico didn’t deal with the collusion between the country’s government and drug cartels, the U.S. military was prepared to take unilateral action, according to people briefed on the Jan. 31 call. Mexico’s top brass who were on that call were shocked and angered, feeling he was suggesting U.S. military action inside Mexico, these people said. The Defense Department declined to comment.
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Senior Mexican officials are focusing on delivering tangible results on the border and drugs that Trump can see as signs of progress, but there are worries that it won’t be easy to avoid tariffs as it was on Feb. 3, when Sheinbaum got a monthlong reprieve by sending 10,000 National Guard troops to the border.
On Thursday, Mexican authorities extradited 29 drug cartel figures to the U.S. for prosecution. NBC News reported that the 29 people were affiliated with five out of six drug cartels that President Donald Trump recently designated as terror organizations.
According to the Journal‘s Friday reporting, the exchange was made in part to placate Trump and after it was implied the U.S. military could take action on Mexican soil.
Hegseth was asked about deploying troops to Mexico on Thursday while he was at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.
“We’re taking nothing off the table,” he said. “Nothing.”
