US enters into 'non-international armed conflict' with cartels
US President Donald Trump has declared America is at war with the cartels.
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Mr Trump wrote in a White House memo that the United States has entered into a "non-international armed conflict" and that drug cartels operating in the Caribbean are “unlawful combatants”.
A US official told reporters that Congress was notified about the declaration by Pentagon officials on Wednesday.
The document labels cartel members as "unlawful combatants" whose actions "constitute an armed attack against the United States".
It reportedly says: "The cartels involved have grown more armed, well-organized, and violent."
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"They have the financial means, sophistication, and paramilitary capabilities needed to operate with impunity."
The memo follows strikes conducted by the US military on three boats in the Caribbean Sea last month.
The strikes killed 17 people and have been met with outrage by the international community, especially in Central and South America.
Mr Trump took to social media in early September to share a video showing a missile strike on the vessel allegedly carrying members of the Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua (TDA).
He said that the group is a designated foreign terrorist organisation that is "responsible for mass murder, drug trafficking, sex trafficking, and acts of violence and terror across the United States and Western Hemisphere."
Democrat lawmakers complained that the strikes are unlawful under the War Powers Act which requires consent for military action.
The Trump administration appears to be pursuing a new legal framework that questions the role of Congress in authorising action.
Officials from the Pentagon could not provide lawmakers with a list of the designated terrorist organisations at the centre of the conflict, according to people familiar with the memo.