The Trump administration told Congress on Wednesday that the United States is now engaged in a “non-international armed conflict” with South American drug cartels, after U.S. forces carried out a series of strikes on drug trafficking vessels linked to Venezuela.
NEW: WHITE HOUSE AT WAR WITH ALLEGED DRUG CARTELS
— Kellie Meyer (@KellieMeyerNews) October 2, 2025
MEMO obtained by @NewsNation @JoeKhalilTV to a select few in Congress lays out that DRUG CARTELS are now “non-state armed groups, terrorist organizations” and the President has determined the U.S. is engaged in “non-international… pic.twitter.com/LDbg8mnn2x
The “1230 report” given to members of Congress and named after a section in the annual defense authorization bill, “is legally mandated … following any incident in which the United States Armed Forces are involved in an attack or hostilities,” a White House official said, before adding that, “This report was issued to Congress following the September 15 strike against a Designated Terrorist Organization."
President Trump boasted about the strikes during a speech on Monday at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia, “If you try to poison our people, we will blow you out of existence. That’s the only language they really understand. That’s why you don’t see any more boats on the ocean.”
The Trump administration has framed the actions of South American drug traffickers as an attack on the American people, justifying three U.S. strikes that killed 17 Venezuelan traffickers.
“[A]t the President’s direction, and in compliance with the law of armed conflict, on September 15, 2025, U.S. forces struck an unflagged vessel at a location beyond the territorial seas of any nation,” the notice read for the most recent strike.
“The vessel was assessed by the U.S. intelligence community to be affiliated with a designated terrorist organization and, at the time, engaged in trafficking illicit drugs, which could ultimately be used to kill Americans. This strike resulted in the destruction of the vessel, the illicit narcotics, and the death of approximately 3 unlawful combatants.”
Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas said the president “has every right under Article II of the Constitution to take action against narcoterrorists who are waging war on the United States.”
“Murderous drug cartels are responsible for hundreds of thousands of American deaths and have poisoned American communities for far too long,” Cotton continued. “I commend President Trump’s decisive actions against these terrorist cartels, and urge him to continue protecting our country from the drugs and violence that they bring.”
Roughly 100,000 Americans die every year from drug overdoses