Trump Says Mexican President Sheinbaum Is ‘Terrific’ But Cartels ‘Run’ The Country

For months, President Donald Trump has claimed that drug cartels maintain significant control over Mexico, arguing that the influence of criminal organizations has reached multiple levels of Mexican society, including government officials.

Trump reiterated his claim before U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio visits the country to meet with President Claudia Sheinbaum and sign a new bilateral security agreement.

Speaking to the Daily Caller, a conservative news and opinion website, Trump praised Sheinbaum for her administration’s response in fighting drug cartels. However, he again insisted that “Mexico is governed by criminal organizations.”

When asked whether he trusted Mexico to secure its side of the southern border, considering his assertion that the country is “run by the cartels,” Trump said Sheinbaum was afraid of confronting the criminal groups.

“So I like the president very much,” Trump said of Sheinbaum. “I think she’s a terrific woman. She’s actually an amazing woman in some ways. Very elegant, beautiful. But Mexico is run by the cartels. It’s run by the cartels.”

Later in the interview, Trump made off-the-record comments before returning to the conversation. He said his administration had offered to send U.S. troops to Mexico, but Sheinbaum declined the offer because “she’s scared.”

“Now you can go back [on the record]. I’ve offered to send in the military, and she doesn’t want us to do that because she’s scared. She’s very scared,” he said.

Trump’s comments echo those made last week by White House Deputy Chief of Staff and homeland security adviser Stephen Miller during an interview with Fox News, in which he claimed that Mexico City is “run by criminal cartels.”

Speaking with Fox News host Sean Hannity, Miller argued that Democrat-run cities in the United States are more violent than some of the most dangerous places in the world.

“More dangerous than Mexico City! Democrat cities are more dangerous than Mexico City, which is run by criminal cartels,” Miller said.

Trump first claimed that Mexico is run by criminal groups in early January, just weeks before his inauguration.

“It’s essentially run by the cartels. We can’t let that happen. Mexico is really in trouble—a lot of trouble. A dangerous place,” Trump said at the time.

Since then, the Trump administration has taken several steps to combat drug cartels in Mexico. In February, it designated six cartels as terrorist organizations and, more recently, reportedly authorized the Pentagon to explore the possibility of conducting military strikes against cartel targets on Mexican territory.

Sheinbaum has repeatedly rejected the idea, stating that her administration will not allow the country’s sovereignty to be violated.

During her first State of the Union address, Sheinbaum explained that she refused the offer because her government would “never sign something that, from our perspective, violates our sovereignty or our territory.”

“Never. They might have the intent to do it, but we said no—not under that scheme,” she added.