Mexican cartel operatives truly fearful of Trump's drastic actions

The cartels in Mexico are taking steps to avoid the intense heat that has now found them ever since President Donald Trump entered the White House for the second time.

The New York Times revealed amid Trump's threats of tariffs and using the U.S. military to directly confront them, along with the Mexican government's renewed pressure campaign, cartel leaders have taken steps to protect themselves and their businesses.

"One cartel leader says he’s trying to figure out how to protect his family in case the American military strikes inside Mexico. Another says he’s already gone into hiding, rarely leaving his home. Two young men who produce fentanyl for the cartel say they have shut down all their drug labs," the Times reported.

'You can’t be calm; you can’t even sleep.'

Other steps they are taking include selling properties, firing extra personnel, hiring drone detection experts, and purchasing larger caches of firearms from the United States.

The cartels understand that they would be unable to win in a direct fight with the U.S. military. However, now that they are labeled as terrorist organizations, they will certainly not make things easy, should any American warfighters show up.

“If a helicopter comes here and soldiers drop out, 20 or 30 of them, there’s no way we’d just sit here with our arms crossed," one cartel member told the Times.

Trump has used the threat of a 25% tariff on all goods from Mexico to get the Mexican government to actually combat the groups that have caused so much death and destruction in the U.S. The Sinaloa cartel, one of the oldest and biggest in Mexico, has been hit particularly hard by the crackdown and an ongoing civil war between two rival factions within the organization.

“You can’t be calm; you can’t even sleep, because you don’t know when they’ll catch you,” a high-ranking member of the Sinaloa cartel told the Times. "The most important thing now is to survive."

The pressure from the Trump administration does seem to be working to spur our southern neighbors into action. Mexican law enforcement has seized nearly as much fentanyl in the past five months as it did last year. President Claudia Sheinbaum ordered an additional 10,000 National Guardsmen to secure the Mexican part of the border.

The clearest indication that there is a new sheriff in town is that Mexico sending nearly 30 cartel members to the United States to face justice for their alleged crimes. While most of the defendants could face up to life in prison, a few could get the death penalty if convicted.

"As President Trump has made clear, cartels are terrorist groups, and this Department of Justice is devoted to destroying cartels and transnational gangs,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a press release. “We will prosecute these criminals to the fullest extent of the law in honor of the brave law enforcement agents who have dedicated their careers — and in some cases, given their lives — to protect innocent people from the scourge of violent cartels. We will not rest until we secure justice for the American people.”

It remains to be seen how the cartels will adapt to the current wave of intense pressure from Trump, who still says Mexico is not doing enough to avoid tariffs. The cartels have a long history of surviving the imprisonment and deaths of their leaders and the breakup of their groups.

The terrain these days, however, is different. Not only has their drug production taken a hit, but their business of smuggling illegal immigrants has dropped to historic lows with Border Patrol members being able to do their jobs once again.

If no new deals or assurances are made with Mexico, the tariffs are set to go into effect at midnight on Tuesday.

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