U.S. Declares Armed Conflict, Labels Cartels Terrorists

The administration sent a confidential notice to multiple congressional committees asserting the United States is in a “non‑international armed conflict” with drug cartels it has designated as terrorist organizations, and that suspected smugglers at sea may be treated as “unlawful combatants” subject to lethal force. The memo is offered as the legal rationale for recent U.S. military strikes on civilian vessels in the Caribbean — including a Sept. 15 strike that killed three people and other attacks reporters say have killed as many as 17 — which the White House frames as actions under the law of armed conflict. White House officials, including spokesperson Anna Kelly and President Trump, defended the strikes as necessary self‑defense to stop fentanyl and other deadly drugs bound for the United States and as part of a broader anti‑cartel campaign. Legal experts and critics say labeling transnational criminals as participants in an armed conflict risks circumventing criminal‑law safeguards, could permit lethal force against persons who do not pose an immediate threat, and raises questions about extrajudicial killing and detention without trial. The notice reportedly does not identify which cartels are covered or the standards used to determine who qualifies as a combatant, prompting calls for congressional oversight of the administration’s expanded military authorities against smugglers.