January 1, Trump Sends Army Troops South as Cartel Crackdown Intensifies

Wyatt’s Take

• Trump is backing up his border promises with real boots on the ground to choke the cartels at their source.
• Hundreds of American soldiers are training with partners in Panama, Colombia, and Honduras to cut off the flow of deadly drugs before they reach our streets.
• Generals say the goal is total friction for traffickers, proving America is serious about winning the drug war.

The Pentagon is sending several hundred Army soldiers from the 10th Mountain Division to Latin America for training and joint missions with regional forces.

The move comes as the Trump administration ramps up its fight against drug-trafficking networks that have flooded American communities with poison.

The first troops are heading to Panama to train at a new jungle facility before moving on to Colombia and Honduras.

A senior U.S. official confirmed the soldiers will be under the control of U.S. Southern Command, which will decide where they are needed most.

“Do I see land strikes as options? Yes. We want all options at the table,” Gen. Francis Donovan, SOUTHCOM commander, told The Wall Street Journal.

“Those actions might be strikes, arrests, or the takedown of a safe house,” he continued. “It could even be something as routine as increasing the use of cargo scanners at border checkpoints.”

The troops could also back up special operations forces already helping local units raid suspected drug labs and safe houses.

Additional soldiers from the same division are expected to help run a new Western Hemisphere military command based in Miami.

Since the campaign started, U.S. forces have struck dozens of suspected trafficking vessels, killing more than 235 people tied to the cartels.

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has already secured agreements with Colombia and Honduras to allow joint operations against criminal groups inside their borders.

Wyatt Matters

Working families across the heartland want leaders who put America first and stop making excuses for the cartels poisoning our kids. This deployment shows the Trump team is finally treating the drug war like the national security threat it is.