Secretary of State nominee Marco Rubio didn’t rule out designating Mexican drug cartels as terrorist organizations during his Senate confirmation hearing, previewing a sharp crackdown by the incoming Trump administration on threats to the U.S. southern border.
“These sophisticated transnational terroristic organizations have operational and functional control over huge swaths of areas that border the United States of America,” he told senators Wednesday. “It is important for us not just to go after these groups but identify them and call them for what they are and that is terroristic in their nature.”
Rubio said he’d prefer to work collaboratively with Mexico instead of turning to military force to root out drug cartels. But he didn’t rule out the possibility of the latter as an option President-elect Donald Trump may choose.
“President Trump is someone that never publicly discusses his options and leaves himself the flexibility to act,” said Rubio, a senator from Florida. “I think there’s a lot we can and we’ll continue to do in close partnership with our allies in Mexico. I think there’s more they can do as well to confront this challenge, and my preference would be, from the Department of State’s perspective, my preference would be that we can work with the Mexicans on this issue cooperatively, because it is impacting their nation as much as ours.”
