Trump to send US special forces hit squads to Mexico to assassinate drug cartel leaders in second term, according to sources

Donald Trump is considering sending special operations teams into Mexico to kill the heads of drug cartels if he retakes the White House in November, according to a new report citing three sources familiar with his thinking. 

During his four years in office he pondered whether it would be possible to launch missile strikes on cartel operations.

And, with the threat of drugs smuggled across the southern border only increasing since then, he is now publicly campaigning on a platform that includes using covert means to hurt the gangs responsible.

Trump is said to be modeling his thinking on the the successful 2019 military raid that he ordered to kill ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

But the approach would come with the risks of angering the Mexican government.

Members of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) pose for a photo at an undisclosed location, in Michoacan state, Mexico

Former President Donald Trump leaving court on Tuesday. He is planning to use the military against Mexican cartels if he wins the election in Novemer

One of the sources told Rolling Stone that the former president said that the U.S. government should have a 'kill list of drug lords' to be captured of assassinated during his second term.

In conversation, Trump has insisted that the American armed forces have 'tougher killers than they do' and wondered why assassination missions haven been launched before.

Trump's campaign spokesman dismissed the report. 

'This is nothing more than fake news from Rolling Stone who spoke with cowardly, un-named sources who either have no idea what they are talking about or are completely fabricating what will happen in a second Trump Administration,' said Steven Cheung. 

'Let us be very specific here: unless a message is coming directly from President Trump or an authorized member of his campaign team, no aspect of future presidential staffing or policy announcements should be deemed official.'

Even so, the conservations with allies (including a lawmaker) appear to reflect Trump's public position which sets out how he would use military assets to tackle the problem.

'Deploy all necessary military assets, including the U.S. Navy, to impose a full naval embargo on the cartels, to ensure they cannot use our region's waters to traffic illicit drugs to the U.S.,' his campaign website says.

'Order the Department of Defense to make appropriate use of special forces, cyber warfare, and other covert and overt actions to inflict maximum damage on cartel leadership, infrastructure, and operations.'

Mexican officials are pictured dismantling a clandestine drug lab in Sinaloa, Mexico, in June 2019

A Mexican officer stands guard over the makeshift lab in El Dorado, Sinaloa. Trump wanted to launch missiles into Mexico to take the labs out, and then deny the U.S. was responsible

During his time in office, Trump did consider taking extraordinary measures. They were described by Mark Esper, his second defense secretary, in his memoir. 

In the summer of 2020, the president asked him twice if the armed forces could launch 'missiles into Mexico to destroy the drug labs,' because the Mexican government did not have 'control of their own country.'

Trump had a response when Esper pointed out the legal and diplomatic difficulty in firing on a friendly neighbor 

'No one would know it was us,' Trump reportedly told him.

The ideas were ridiculed at the time, but some have become mainstream Republican thinking.

Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor who ran against Trump for the Republican nomination, promised to send special forces into Mexico 'on day one' if he were elected.