Secretary of War just compared this group to a notorious terror organization, and the death toll from strikes keeps climbing

The Trump administration keeps launching military attacks on boats they say are carrying drugs in the Western Hemisphere. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth is defending these strikes even though many people disagree with them. The attacks have killed dozens of people so far.

According to Fox News, Hegseth talked about these operations while he was visiting Malaysia. He keeps speaking out in favor of using military force against drug smugglers. The secretary uses very strong words when talking about the cartels.

The War Secretary said drug cartels are just like al Qaeda when explaining why these strikes are happening. “These cartels are the Al Qaeda of the Western Hemisphere, using violence, murder and terrorism to impose their will, threaten our national security and poison our people,” Hegseth wrote on X. He also said the military would treat them like terrorists and hunt them down and kill them the same way they went after al Qaeda.

This sounds like a major shift in how America deals with drug cartels

A lot of people have died in these strikes. Dozens have been killed in different attacks that happened under Trump’s watch. The military is going after ships they think are moving drugs. These attacks are taking place in ocean waters around the Western Hemisphere.

President Donald Trump is saying the same things as his War Secretary. He also compared the cartels to terrorist groups when he spoke earlier. “It should now be clear to the entire world that the cartels are the ISIS of the Western Hemisphere,” Trump said last month. He made these comments while talking about his Homeland Security Task Force.

Hegseth backed up what the president said at the same event. “Well, as the president said, this is the ISIS, this is the al Qaeda, of the Western Hemisphere,” the War Secretary said. Both Trump and Hegseth are saying the exact same thing, which shows they completely agree on how to handle this.

Some members of Congress have spoken out against what the administration is doing. This is a much bigger step than what past governments have done to stop drug trafficking.

Using the military to attack suspected smugglers is very different from how law enforcement usually handles these cases. But Trump and Hegseth are not backing down from their plan.

The administration is not changing course despite the criticism. Military strikes on boats suspected of carrying drugs are still happening in the Eastern Pacific and other places. Trump’s team says the cartels are a serious danger to the country’s safety and need to be stopped with military action just like terrorist groups.