Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth touted recent lethal strikes on boats that they allege are carrying drugs to the United States as a successful way to deter alleged drug traffickers from entering the country.
“We will find you, we will map your networks, we will hunt you down, and we will kill you,” Hegseth said. “And you’ve seen that evidence in the maritime domain, whether it’s in the Caribbean or in the Pacific with the last two strikes. We know exactly who these people are. We know what networks they work with, what foreign terrorist organizations they’re a part of; we know where they’re going, where they originated from, what they’re carrying.”
He reiterated the point later, saying, “We will track them, we will map them, we will network them, and we will hunt them and kill them, because they’re trying to and they are killing and poisoning the American people.”
He added, “We have all the license necessary, all the authorities necessary, to take these kinetic strikes, and we’ll continue to take them.”
Trump also touted his administration’s decision to strike the boats instead of capturing the alleged drug traffickers on board, telling reporters, “But we’ve been capturing these boats for years, and they get back into the system, they do it again and again and again, and they don’t fear that, they have no fear.”
