In a legal defense provided to Congress, Trump told lawmakers that the U.S. is in an „armed conflict“ with the cartels and that drug smugglers are „unarmed combatants.“

Some legal experts have said such an argument is unlikely to hold up in court. However, it was unclear who would challenge Trump’s rationale in defense of the drug cartels, with few lawmakers speaking out against it and Trump continuing to expand military operations in the region in recent weeks.