President Donald Trump has declared that the U.S. is in a formal “armed conflict” with drug cartels in a confidential notice to Congress.

The notice, obtained by the New York Times , labels suspected drug smugglers as “unlawful combatants,” and seeks to justify the Trump Administration’s three military strikes on civilian vessels in the Caribbean sea last month as part of a sustained active conflict. The strikes, which experts said were likely illegal and amounted to extrajudicious murders , killed a total of 17 people.

In a Jan. 20 executive order , Trump designated several drug cartels as terrorist organizations, and the Trump Administration has characterized the strikes as instances of self-defense against national security threats to the U.S. The notice, however, suggests tha

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