President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that the U.S. military will “hit” drug traffickers attempting to smuggle illegal substances into the United States by land following his administration’s recent strikes on drug cartel boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific.
According to Fox News, the president told reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday that while the U.S. military strikes against drug cartel vessels are “violent,” the strikes against drug traffickers save tens of thousands of American lives.
“We have the greatest military in the world. We have the greatest weapons in the world. And you see a little bit of it there, one shot, every one dead center,” Trump said. “And the only way you can’t feel bad about it is you realize … that every time you see that happen, you’re saving 25,000 American lives.”
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“Every one of those boats that gets knocked out is saving 25,000 American lives, not to mention the torn-up families all over the country,” the president added. “And whenever I see that, I say to myself, ‘I just saved 25,000 lives.'”
Trump claimed that following his administration’s repeated strikes against cartel ships attempting to smuggle illegal drugs into the country, there are now “very few boats traveling on the water.” The president warned that while cartels and smugglers may attempt to “come in by land to a lesser extent,” they will be “hit” on land.
According to Fox News, Trump told reporters on Wednesday that his administration has the legal authority needed to conduct strikes against drug smugglers on U.S. territory.
“We have legal authority. We’re allowed to do that,” the president said. “If we do it by land, we may go back to Congress. We’ll probably go back to Congress and explain exactly what we’re doing when we come to the land. We don’t have to do that.”
“This is a national security problem,” Trump added. “They killed 300,000 Americans last year, and that gives you legal authority.”
The president warned that his administration will hit drug smugglers “very hard” if they attempt to enter the United States by land. “They haven’t experienced that yet, but now we’re totally prepared to do that,” he said.
