President Donald Trump quietly signed a directive ordering the Pentagon to begin using military force against Latin American drug cartels that the administration has labeled as terrorist organizations, The New York Times reported Friday morning.

The order includes an official basis for the United States military to conduct anti-cartel operations in foreign countries, and military officials have already begun drafting plans for going after certain groups, the Times reported, citing “people familiar with the conversations.” It was not immediately clear which specific gangs or drug cartels Trump’s new directive greenlights military operations against.

Under Trump, the United States has designated seven drug cartels and two international criminal gangs as foreign terrorist organizations: Tren de Aragua (TdA), Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), Cártel de Sinaloa, Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG), Cártel del Noreste (CDN), La Nueva Familia Michoacana (LNFM), Cártel de Golfo (CDG), and Cárteles Unidos (CU). The Trump administration recently added the Venezuelan Cartel de los Soles to its list, saying that it is operated by Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and other high-ranking government officials, according to the Times. On Thursday, the United States upped the bounty on Maduro to $50 million, pointing to his ties to transnational gangs and drug cartels.

“Maduro uses foreign terrorist organizations like TDA, Sinaloa, and Cartel of the Suns to bring deadly drugs and violence into our country. To date, the DEA has seized 30 tons of cocaine linked to Maduro and his associates with nearly seven tons linked to Maduro himself,” said Attorney General Pam Bondi.

Most of the cartels designated by the Trump administration as terrorist organizations operate in Mexico, while TdA’s roots are in Venezuela, and MS-13 originated in Los Angeles as a Salvadoran street gang. Both TdA and MS-13 also have cells operating in Central America, according to the State Department.

Trump’s order is among the most significant steps he has taken to fulfill his promise to “wage war” on cartels that have trafficked fentanyl and other drugs into the United States, leading to the deaths of tens of thousands of Americans. In May, President Trump said he offered Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum a deal that would send U.S. troops into Mexico to fight drug cartels.

“They are horrible people that have been killing people left and right. They’ve made a fortune on selling drugs and destroying our people,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One. “If Mexico wanted help with the cartels, we would be honored to go in and do it.”

Sheinbaum rejected Trump’s proposal, saying, “Sovereignty is not for sale. Sovereignty is loved and defended.”

“We will never accept the presence of the United States military in our territory,” she added.

According to newly released Census Bureau data, all income groups in America advanced more during President Donald Trump’s first term than they did during the Biden administration.

Stephen Moore, a senior visiting fellow in economics at The Heritage Foundation, presented the unpublished data for the first time in an Oval Office presentation with Trump on Thursday. The data divided Americans into three groups: lower income (bottom 25% of earners), middle income (middle 50%), and upper income (top 25%).

“What I find fascinating about this, Mr. President, is every income group did better,” said Moore, displaying a chart showing the percentage gain that accrued on average in each income bracket.

Under President Joe Biden, the lower class, after adjusting for inflation, lost income over the course of four years. The middle-income earners stayed about the same. But the upper income earners did noticeably better, according to Moore.

“The rich were the only group that did better under Biden, which is ironic because Biden keeps saying he was trying to get rid of income inequality. He made income inequality worse, not better,” Moore said. “It was President Trump that reduced income inequality.”

The economist tallied the numbers in dollars, as well, showing that the lower income gained about $4,000 in annual revenue over Trump’s first term. The middle income gained about $6,400 in annual earnings, and the wealthiest earned $10,000 more a year from the start of Trump’s first term to its end.

The data takes into account the COVID pandemic, which hit at the end of Trump’s first term and caused a general dip in income.

In addition to data on income growth, Moore also showed graphs on Bureau of Labor Statistics data and median household income during Trump’s first months of his second term. In the first five months of Trump’s second term, the average household’s income has increased by an inflation-adjusted $1,174, Moore said.

Trump last week fired the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Erika McEntarfer, after the bureau, responsible for collecting and releasing jobs data on the U.S. economy every month, issued a significant downward correction this month on data for May and June.

“Revisions for May and June were larger than normal,” the agency said in a report issued August 1. “The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for May was revised down by 125,000, from +144,000 to +19,000, and the change for June was revised  down by 133,000, from +147,000 to +14,000.”

Moore supported Trump’s decision to fire the agency head, citing similar significant corrections that were made to jobs data under Biden, which Moore said showed “incompetence.” Trump, however, told Moore he believed the figures had been deliberately manipulated.

🚨@StephenMoore presents new economic data in the Oval Office with @POTUS:

“Mr. President, you gained ten times more income for the average family than Joe Biden.”

“Every income group did better under Trump than Biden — by a wide margin.” pic.twitter.com/VIGjGf14YO

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) August 7, 2025