Chuck Marino
Appearances
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
Look, if somebody didn't previously come to the attention of U.S. law enforcement or an intelligence agency or the military, they're going to be a ghost to us. And in many cases, the Biden administration knew that and they were still letting them in. You know, I called this when they brought in the first wave of refugees from Afghanistan during the botched withdrawal.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
And they said that all 5,000 of them were thoroughly vetted. Then why was the FBI looking for 2,500 of them the following week within the United States? It just doesn't sell. And I think in their own towns, it just the American people aren't buying it anymore. And that's why the election went the way it did. Yeah.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
Yeah, well, we've got to start collecting a lot more data. We've got to help some of these locations establish business programs where they're able to actually capture some of this information from their own countries of origin. And this is where Remain in Mexico comes into play and why it was so important. It becomes a forced mechanism to pause the process. Right. Yes, you can claim asylum.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
You know, we've got to look at parole programs. You know, the HCMV parole program, the TPS, that was exploited. That was being fraudulently used by the cartels and others. It actually had to be shut down for a period of time by the Biden administration. They immediately started it back up. We have Trende Aragua to thank for that program. And so, you know, it's round and round we go.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
But we've got to start collecting a lot more data points, both on our own end and have better capabilities to ping against. Because some of these people, you're just not going to be able to vet.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
Yeah, I mean, look, when we look at the policies under the Biden administration, I mean, You and I have experienced this. You rely on the president who sets national security strategy to take his number one responsibility of protecting the country. and providing for the safety and security of the American public seriously.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
We don't expect a president as Biden did to implement policies that actually undercut the entire homeland security apparatus that was created after September 11th, 2001. We don't expect to see policies that undercut the CIA, the FBI, and every other law enforcement agency that's tasked with protecting the homeland.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
So the past four years were unprecedented in a lot of different ways, not only in the number of threats that they allowed to come right across our borders, but the way that they just undercut the entire mechanisms that were established to keep the country safer.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
Yeah, you know, those were shut down under the Biden administration. They used to use the old spy blimps along the southwest border. And one of the first steps he took is he was standing down all these executive orders from the previous Trump administration. Those were one of the programs that he shut down. I think it's a valuable resource.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
I think we're able, again, if we're collaboratively working with Mexico, which, you know, I'm keeping my fingers crossed is exactly what's happening. That's providing a wealth of information to both Mexican officials as well as to U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies. I'm all for it. I like this stepped-up approach. This is where the military support is phenomenal.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
It's allowed to assist and free up CBP resources to focus on securing that order and putting handcuffs on people.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
uh and turning away those that need to be turned away so i like this whole government approach i'm a big fan of it uh and i think it's being done right right now and they're not going to leave any resource on the table so good for the trump administration yeah and you would you would think that again you know it will have to wait and see but you would think that the the mexican government you know he under claudia scheinbaum
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
Well, I think we see President Trump keeping his word in terms of sealing up the border and going after those national security threats and criminal threats that were allowed to come in the past four years in the Biden administration. I wish I had a set number that I could give you about who's been allowed in. But as you know, that number fluctuates on any given day, depending on who you talk to.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
Yeah. No, look, you're right. I mean, I try and break it down even plainer than that. And I say, look, if the cartels are willing to work with China to kill hundreds of thousands of Americans with fentanyl, what makes us so naive as to not think that they're working with terrorist organizations or other adversaries to infiltrate the United States. Again, it comes down to making a buck.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
And so, they're going to work with whoever they need to work with. So, you know, I like the aggressive approach. I think if Mexico gets on board, we can make a big difference against the cartels down there in Mexico because they've expanded so much that they have just as much power with respect to all the trafficking across our northern border as well.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
While we don't see the numbers that we saw at the southwest border, we saw the same diversity of threats, just at a slightly lower percentage. So, it wasn't that the threat was as large as down at the southwest border, but we were still facing the same range of threats.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
We have a lot of bad actors that have made their way into the United States. This is confirmed. We see it each and every day, whether it's suspected terrorists being rounded up in New York, L.A. and Pennsylvania, or these criminal aliens that are continuing to prey on American citizens here in the country. So, I think we're in the right direction.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
I like that the cartels have been designated finally as foreign terrorist organizations. They've never been as powerful as they are right now based on the policies of the Biden administration, both financially and operationally. And there's nothing that comes to the southwest or northern border that's not touched by the cartels.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
You know, we were locked in in previous administrations to this thinking that we were dealing with solely a law enforcement problem. And never thought about expanding how we were defining the problem. And I think that limited the resources that we were bringing to the specific problem of the cartels. And it was limited to the FBI. And pretty much that was it.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
Just law enforcement at the federal, state and local level. levels. Now, with the foreign terrorist designation, you can bring a whole of government approach similar to what we're seeing now by declaring a national emergency at the Southwest border with the cartels falling into that too.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
Well, I take it very serious. I can tell you right now that this is what we see happening down in Mexico. with the cartels taking action, violent action against many government officials down there. And that is because, not because they want to rule the country of Mexico, it's because they want to keep the Mexican government out of their money-making business.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
And right now, whether it's the US military on the southwest border or CBP and ICE finally being allowed to do their jobs, we're doing the same thing. And so, I highly expect that we will see an increase in violence. However, it won't last very long.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
I think you could see the military playing a significant role either in cooperation with Mexico or doing something unilaterally along the lines of special operations.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
Yeah. Well, I think we've seen so far in the last four weeks, just like their first term in office, the Trump administration plays hardball when it comes to diplomacy. And it usually takes place publicly, which puts the country you're conducting diplomacy with in a trick bag because you box them in.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
And so now what's going to happen here is I can imagine that the Trump administration, and we've already seen it with the threat of tariffs, They're also being put on notice that should anything happen to any of our personnel along either one of our borders, that there's going to be action taken by the United States.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
And so, you're starting to see Mexico, they don't want to see that happen, starting to step it up in terms of their military presence. Now, the problem with that is their military has become as corrupted as their law enforcement institutions, so they're not a very reliable tool in Mexico's arsenal any longer since they started being used by President Calderon for law enforcement action.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
So, you know, we may have to do this unilaterally. It depends on the situation that takes place. But I'll tell you, it's only going to take one time. And then the new president of Mexico is going to be put on against us.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
You know, I hope they think it's time for collaboration, you know, not unlike what we did during Plan Colombia. Now, granted, the FARC in Colombia actually wanted to run the country, right? They were a political organization. They still are, but they were conducting acts of terrorism to destabilize the government of Colombia. And they asked for the assistance of the United States.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
We treated them as an insurgency, and we were able to help Colombia regain control of that country. Now, yeah, we're not dealing with an insurgency with the cartels, but they are acting a lot like terrorist organizations. And so we might as well treat them as such. And I think Mexico would be wise to take us up on our offers of assistance to help them combat this problem.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
I think it's gotten way beyond their control or their ability to control.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
You know, my one consistent assumption has been having to do with the demographics of the Democratic Party, unfortunately. And the support I give to that conclusion is let's look at the number of things that played out in front of Congress, where you had a district of Columbia, for example, you know, pushing for the right to vote for illegal immigrants.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
Let's look at these other cities like New York that were pushing along the same lines. We were seeing it throughout most sanctuary cities where they wanted to give that right. The problem with the Biden administration was I think they started that effort too late, but I believe that was always their sole purpose for allowing what they did.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
Yeah, I don't think this would be a mass invasion of Mexico. I think this would be a lot of using special operations to go after a lot of these locations where the cartels are embedded. You know, it's really, as you know. Amazing how these cartels all mirror paramilitary organizations now.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
And that goes back to the previous point I made about when they would send out the military to solve a law enforcement problem at the time.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
several years ago and only half of the troops would come back, not because they were being killed by the cartels but because they were abandoning ship, they were being offered more money to go work with the cartels and they were taking with them their training, their equipment, their vehicles and so now we've got all these paramilitary organizations.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
So, I really do believe that if we were to go into Mexico, would have to be special operations both on the ground and in the air.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
Yeah. I mean, look, if we look at the deaths of Americans at the hands of the cartels, I mean, it morphs. what we've seen from traditional terrorist organizations within our own borders. If you start to take into account the number of fentanyl deaths, the amount of criminals that are being trafficked into the country, we haven't even touched yet, Mike.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
that 3,500% increase of predominantly single males that are Chinese nationals that were trafficked into the country. Direct flights from China to Mexico, of course, touching the cartels and being trafficked into the United States. You and I can guess all day long what those intentions may be.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
Absolutely. I agree. No, I agree with you. And based on the amount of. migrants that we've seen from special interest locations, right? You know, we talk about it all the time. The vetting is only as good as the systems you're vetting against. And you mean to tell me these special interest locations have systems that we can vet against?