Trump’s Harsh Crackdown on Drug Cartels Sparks Debate Over Maritime Tactics

By Newsmax Wires | Sunday, 09 November 2025 02:39 PM EST

Opponents of President Donald Trump’s escalating offensive against drug cartels on the high seas are complaining that action is being taken without due process for those aboard the ships that are being hit, but former Arizona Sheriff and current Senate candidate Mark Lamb told Newsmax on Sunday that the cartels and their members should be treated as terrorists.
“They’ve been killing 70,000, 80,000, 100,000 Americans a year with the drugs that are in these boats,” Lamb told Newsmax’s “Sunday Report.”
“If I were to line up 100 Americans, they would all say bomb that boat before it gets to our shores,” he added. “The drugs that are in that will kill Americans, and the cartels should be treated as the terrorists that they are.”
His comments came after the U.S. military destroyed 18 suspected drug-smuggling vessels in recent weeks, killing about 70 traffickers as part of Trump’s expanded countercartel operations on the high seas.
Lamb said the approach contrasts sharply with the “hugs, not bullets” policy once promoted by former Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador after the killings of nine Americans in northern Mexico in 2019.
“President Trump wanted to go in then and destroy the cartels,” he said. “Now, President Trump has resolved again to deal with this issue once and for all, and we should. I love the way he’s handling this.”
And, Lamb said, for “anybody that doesn’t like it, the open seas have much different rules and laws that apply there.”
Stefano Ritondale, chief intelligence officer for intelligence company Artorias, also on Sunday’s program, said the crackdown reflects a broader U.S. shift toward confronting transnational threats at their source.
Trump, he added, has had a “singular focus” on the Mexican cartels.
Ritondale noted that recent extraditions of top cartel leaders to the U.S. show cooperation is improving under pressure from Washington.
“The devil’s in the details,” he said, pointing to major syndicates like the Jalisco New Generation and Sinaloa cartels. “But there’s no question the administration is on offense now.”
Lamb also warned that the American immigration and welfare systems have become a magnet for illegal crossings.
“I love that President Trump is already doing the hard work of removing people that are in this country illegally, and that starts by removing them from the dole of the government as well,” he said. “So I hope that we can continue supporting President Trump on his path because he’s on the right path.”