President Donald Trump has declared drug cartels to be “unlawful combatants” and says the United States is now in a “non-international armed conflict,” according to a newly obtained memorandum.
The Trump administration has carried out three strikes in recent weeks on boats it said were smuggling drugs in the Caribbean, starting with a Sept. 2 strike that administration officials said killed 11 members of Tren de Aragua, a criminal group that originated in Venezuela and was designated as a terrorist organization by the United States earlier this year.
