President Donald Trump will host a White House roundtable on Thursday to review the progress of Homeland Security Task Forces (HSTFs), created under his January executive order, Protecting the American People from Invasion.
President Trump's warning to drug cartels: “We will hit them very hard when they come in by land. And they haven't experienced that yet. But now we're totally prepared to do that.” pic.twitter.com/yltJoqkpdr
— Fox News (@FoxNews) October 22, 2025
The order directed federal and state agencies to dismantle criminal cartels, foreign gangs, and human trafficking networks operating in the U.S.
Trump reveals how US military is going to crack down on drug smugglers on land https://t.co/Ey9LPpUnpw
— Fox News (@FoxNews) October 23, 2025
The task forces became fully operational in August and have made over 3,000 arrests, including members of the Sinaloa cartel and MS-13. Authorities have seized two million fentanyl pills, seven tons of narcotics, $3 million in cash, and over 1,000 illegal firearms.
Today, at the direction of President Trump, the Department of War carried out yet another lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization (DTO). Yet again, the now-deceased terrorists were engaged in narco-trafficking in the Eastern Pacific.
— Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (@SecWar) October 23, 2025
The… pic.twitter.com/PEaKmakivD
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said the HSTFs reflect Trump’s “commitment to cutting red tape and prioritizing American safety.”
The roundtable follows recent U.S. military strikes on cartel-linked vessels in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific, part of Trump’s broader campaign to wage “war on the cartels.”
