Trump Urges Mexico to Prosecute Officials Who Help Drug Cartels

Washington, D.C. — President Donald Trump called on Mexico to unmask, arrest and prosecute public officials who have helped drug cartels, saying the country must take further action against the “narcoterrorist organizations that dominate broad areas of its territory.”

Trump made the demand in his Presidential Determination for fiscal year 2027 on major drug transit and illicit drug-producing countries, according to a report by Reforma. He said Mexico needs to step up its efforts against the criminal groups operating within its borders.

“Mexico must take additional measures against the narcoterrorist organizations that dominate broad areas of its territory and continue to threaten the American people,” the document states.

The determination also urged Mexico to tighten controls on its supply chains.

“Mexico must strengthen the integrity of the supply chain by requiring greater participation from the private sector and significantly increasing inspections at its ports of entry,” it says.

Trump argued that Mexico’s current spending on security forces falls short of what is needed.

“Moreover, Mexico’s current investments in its security forces are insufficient to sustain and expand its campaigns against narcoterrorists, their finances and their criminal networks. This includes unmasking, arresting and prosecuting the numerous corrupt public officials who have helped and been complicit with the cartels and have betrayed the security and sovereignty of their own country,” the document says.

At the same time, Trump credited the government of President Claudia Sheinbaum for its counternarcotics efforts.

“We recognize the administration of Mexican President Sheinbaum for seizing greater volumes of drugs, dismantling clandestine laboratories and deploying additional law enforcement and military resources along our shared border. In addition, security cooperation between the United States and Mexico has helped eliminate some of the world’s most notorious cartel leaders, including ‘El Mencho,'” he said.

Still, Trump said Mexico must do “much more to stop the flow of deadly drugs reaching our country.”