DEA Announces New US–Mexico Partnership in Fighting Cartels

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) announced on Aug. 18 a new U.S.–Mexico collaboration on the southern border against cartels responsible for trafficking lethal synthetic drugs into the United States.

The DEA has launched a training and collaboration program called “Project Gatekeeper” at one of its intelligence centers on the southwest border, which will last several weeks. According to the agency, the primary objective is to dismantle the cartel “gatekeepers” who control smuggling corridors along the southwest border.

“DEA is taking decisive action to confront the cartels that are killing Americans with fentanyl and other poisons,” DEA Administrator Terrance Cole said in a statement.

“Project Portero and this new training program show how we will fight—by planning and operating side by side with our Mexican partners, and by bringing the full strength of the U.S. government to bear. This is a bold first step in a new era of cross-border enforcement, and we will pursue it relentlessly until these violent organizations are dismantled.”

To achieve this, over several weeks, the training program participants—primarily Mexican investigators, Mexican law enforcement and prosecutors, defense officials, and members of the U.S. intelligence community—will identify joint objectives, develop coordinated law enforcement strategies, and strengthen intelligence sharing.

“Gatekeepers are essential to cartel operations, directing the flow of fentanyl, methamphetamine, and cocaine into the United States while ensuring the movement of firearms and bulk cash back into Mexico,” the DEA said.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on Aug. 11 that the U.S. government is working to combat drug cartels and that measures will be taken to defend the American people.

“We’re watching,” Hegseth said in an interview with journalist Laura Ingraham on Fox News.

“We probably know a little bit more than they think we might know about them. We spent a lot of attention watching them. We’re focused on this. It’s a presidential priority. It’s our priority.

“Where appropriate, when given the opportunity, when it makes sense at the directive of the president, we will take action to defend the American people.”

During his presidential campaign, President Donald Trump promised to combat foreign drug cartels and transnational gang violence. After his inauguration, he designated international cartels and other criminal groups as foreign terrorist organizations to eradicate organizations that threaten the security of the United States.

On Feb. 20, Secretary of State Marco Rubio designated Carteles Unidos as a foreign terrorist organization and a specially designated terrorist organization, along with other criminal organizations such as Tren de Aragua, MS-13, the Sinaloa Cartel, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, the Cartel del Noreste, La Nueva Familia Michoacana, and the Gulf Cartel.

Since then, U.S. government agencies have intensified their fight against cartels that traffic synthetic drugs from other countries and distribute them in most states, among other associated crimes.