President Donald Trump’s latest efforts to crack down on drug cartel influence in the United States have turned to military force, according to sources familiar with the matter.

On Friday, The New York Times first reported that Trump had “secretly” assigned the Pentagon to begin using military force as a way to combat Latin American drug cartels, which the White House deemed as terrorist organizations.

Back in January, one of his first actions as Trump entered the White House for his second term was sign an action declaring certain cartels as national and global terrorist threats. A month later, the State Department acknowledged seven international cartels as enemies to the American public, declaring them foreign terrorist organizations and specially designated global terrorists.

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