{"id":34897,"date":"2025-03-03T18:35:04","date_gmt":"2025-03-03T18:35:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/03\/trump-admin-promises-to-be-ruthlessly-aggressive-in-response-to-suspected-cartel-killing-of-us-citizen\/"},"modified":"2025-03-03T18:35:04","modified_gmt":"2025-03-03T18:35:04","slug":"trump-admin-promises-to-be-ruthlessly-aggressive-in-response-to-suspected-cartel-killing-of-us-citizen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/03\/trump-admin-promises-to-be-ruthlessly-aggressive-in-response-to-suspected-cartel-killing-of-us-citizen\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump admin promises to be \u2018ruthlessly aggressive\u2019 in response to suspected cartel killing of US citizen"},"content":{"rendered":"

In response to the killing of an elderly South Texas rancher<\/a> and U.S. citizen by a suspected cartel explosive, the Trump administration is promising to continue being “ruthlessly aggressive” in responding to cartel threats to Americans.<\/p>\n

After 74-year-old U.S. citizen Antonio C\u00e9spedes Saldierna was killed in the blast, National Security Council spokesperson Brian Hughes told Fox News Digital that the administration will be relentless in working to fully secure the border.<\/p>\n

He said that President Donald Trump\u2019s recent designation<\/a> of eight cartels \u2013 including MS-13, Venezuelan criminal group Tren de Aragua<\/a> and several Mexican cartels \u2013 as foreign terrorist organizations, “makes clear his intention to treat violent cartel members exactly as they should be treated \u2013 as terrorists.”<\/p>\n

Hughes did not offer any specifics on whether the administration is considering a military response to the suspected cartel killing but noted that the “administration has proven to be ruthlessly aggressive in pursuing criminal gangs that threaten our homeland.”<\/p>\n

TEXAS GOVERNOR ANNOUNCES CRACKDOWN ON MASSIVE ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT COMMUNITY NEAR MAJOR CITY<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

He said that “President Trump<\/a> will stop at nothing to secure our border, protect our communities, and dismantle terrorist organizations.”<\/p>\n

As reported by local outlet KRGV-TV<\/a> on Tuesday, Saldierna was driving in his truck about two hours south of the border in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas when he drove over an IED which exploded, taking his life.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

His death comes after weeks of growing concerns among border leaders about an increase in cartel violence and activity just south of the U.S. border.<\/p>\n

On Jan. 27, U.S. Border Patrol agents took fire<\/a> from cartel members near Fronton, Texas.<\/p>\n

ACTIVISTS IN MEXICO REPORT FLOW OF MIGRANTS HAS ‘ENORMOUSLY DECREASED’ ONE MONTH INTO TRUMP ADMIN<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

In early February, footage obtained<\/a> by Texas Republican Rep. Chip Roy\u2019s office revealed the cartel also has drone capabilities and the capacity to drop airborne missiles on targets on the ground.<\/p>\n

After Saldierna\u2019s killing, Roy called for the U.S. to finally “take the fight to the cartels.”<\/p>\n

“The results of Biden’s pathetic border policies have now culminated in the death of a Texas rancher driving to his ranch in Mexico through a cartel-planted IED \u2013 an explosive device commonly used by terrorist organizations in the Middle East,” Roy told Fox News Digital. “This savage display of violence is further evidence that these cartels must be treated as the terrorists that they are.”<\/p>\n

Roy said Congress must act now to solidify the Trump administration\u2019s designation of cartels and other migrant criminal groups as foreign terrorist organizations.<\/p>\n

BLUE STATE SHERIFF UNLEASHES ON ‘UN-AMERICAN’ SANCTUARY LAWS, MAKES SPECIAL OFFER TO HOMAN<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

“President Trump issued an Executive Order to designate Mexican drug cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations. Since 2019, I have introduced legislation to designate these lawless groups as FTO,” he said. “Now is the time to codify President Trump\u2019s EO to take the fight to the cartels and wipe them out once and for all.”<\/p>\n

Stressing the urgency of responding to the persisting cartel violence at the border, Mayra Flores<\/a>, a former Republican congresswoman from South Texas, told Fox News Digital that Saldierna\u2019s death “highlights the challenges that many face daily.”<\/p>\n

CLICK HERE FOR MORE IMMIGRATION COVERAGE<\/u><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Congresswoman Monica De La Cruz, another South Texas Republican, emphasized ICE’s role in reducing the cartel’s ability to inflict violence on Americans. She told Fox News Digital she would “work with the Trump Administration to support the Rio Grande Valley Sector Border Patrol and ICE Agents as they work to arrest every criminal and cartel member in our country and secure our border.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales, whose district covers vast portions of the Southern border, also commented on the deaths, telling Fox News Digital that “cartels have no regard for our laws, let alone the sanctity of life.”<\/p>\n

‘ON NOTICE’: EX-VENEZUELAN MILITARY OFFICIAL APPLAUDS TRUMP’S ‘FIRST GOOD STEP’ TARGETING BLOODTHIRSTY GANG<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Gonzales said that he “fully” supports the Trump administration designating cartels as terrorist groups, which he said, “gives our government more resources to shut down their operations.”<\/p>\n

“They are terrorists and deserve to be designated as such,” he explained. “This tragic death in South Texas is just another example of that.”\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fox News Digital also reached out to South Texas Democrat Reps. Henry Cuellar<\/a> and Vicente Gonzalez but did not receive a response by publication.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In response to the killing of an elderly South Texas rancher and U.S. citizen by a suspected cartel explosive, the Trump administration is promising to continue being “ruthlessly aggressive” in responding to cartel threats to Americans. After 74-year-old U.S. citizen Antonio C\u00e9spedes Saldierna was killed in the blast, National Security Council spokesperson Brian Hughes told … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34897"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34897\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}