The quiet order to treat Latin American drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations rips away the last restraints on how Washington confronts them. It means drones, special operations, and naval interdictions can now target groups once treated as mere criminal syndicates, from Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua to MS-13 cells that burrow into U.S. cities. By tying this offensive to deportations, asset seizures, and tightened trade pressure on Canada and Mexico, Trump is fusing immigration, national security, and economic leverage into a single, hard-edged doctrine.

But this new war brings peril as well as promise. Labeling cartels as terrorists risks diplomatic ruptures, retaliatory violence, and legal gray zones that could entangle U.S. troops in open-ended conflict across the hemisphere. Families shattered by cartel brutality may finally see Washington act with urgency. Yet the question now haunting capitals from Mexico City to Caracas is simple: where, and how brutally, does this end?