John Walters and William Barr, former officials from the Bush administration, have called for Mexican drug cartels to be treated as national security threats and terrorist groups. This statement was made in a Fox News opinion piece on January 23, 2025.
"The Mexican cartels are more like foreign terrorist groups, like ISIS, than they are the American mafia – and it is heartening that President Trump has signed an executive order designating them as such," said Barr and John Walters, Former Attorney General William Barr & Executive Director of Hudson Institute John Walters. "It is time to confront them as national-security threats, not a law-enforcement matter."
According to Walters and Barr's op-ed, in 2024, U.S. authorities seized 115 million fentanyl pills. They highlight that the opioid crisis results in 100,000 American deaths annually and incurs costs of $1.5 trillion each year. President Trump is reportedly targeting the sources of these drugs in China and Mexico. Walters and Barr assert that the cartels have "cowed and co-opted" the Mexican government, making economic pressure necessary. Trump has imposed a 10% tariff on China and a 25% tariff on Mexico to address this issue.
Tom Homan, serving as border czar, expressed skepticism about relying on Mexico in the fight against cartels during an interview on the Megyn Kelly Show. "We have to put 100% focus on these cartels to put them out of business and shut them down," Homan said. "Mexico’s not going to do it. Mexico hasn’t dealt with them in three decades. It’s going to take the United States to put the cartels out of business permanently."
Walters and Barr also suggest that encouraging Mexican support through tariffs is not the sole method for addressing cartel activities. They argue that the U.S., by collaborating with other governments and employing all available resources such as law enforcement, intelligence, and military capabilities, can defeat the cartels.
According to the Washington Examiner, President Trump signed an executive order on January 21 in response to cartel activities. The order declared a national emergency aimed at addressing these threats and marked the beginning of efforts to designate them as Foreign Terrorist Organizations.
William Barr served as U.S. Attorney General during both the Bush administration and again during Trump's first term, according to information from the Department of Justice website.
