“Calavera Oaxaqueña” by José Guadalupe Posada (1910)

According to a recent report from The New York Times, President Trump has authorized the Pentagon to use military force against Latin American drug cartels. Trump established the legal groundwork for this directive shortly after assuming the presidency for a second term when he issued an order that designated certain drug cartels as global terrorists. The order specifically accused Latin American criminal groups such as Tren de Aragua and La Mara Salvatrucha (“MS-13”) of threatening “the stability of the international order in the Western Hemisphere.”

It is discouraging to see President Trump signal a willingness to forgo diplomacy in favor of a militarized approach that could violate the sovereignty of the largest U.S. trading partner. The United States must prioritize diplomacy in the U.S.-Mexico bilateral relationship rather than rush into a destabilizing military misadventure with its neighbor.

The United States is currently in a synthetic opioid crisis. A large amount of fentanyl enters the country through the southern border and kills tens of thousands of Americans per year. Competing voices have debated how to mitigate the devastating effect of synthetic opioids. Congressman Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) recently categorized the drug war as........

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