US pressing Mexico to allow troops into country

PHOTO CAPTION: Illustrative photo — A member of the Mexican National Guard patrols the border wall between Mexico and the U.S. on the outskirts of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, February 6, 2025. REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez

The United States is intensifying pressure on Mexico to allow U.S. military forces to conduct joint operations to dismantle fentanyl labs inside the country, the New York Times reported on Thursday, citing U.S. officials. 

U.S. officials want American forces, either Special Operations troops or CIA officers, to accompany Mexican soldiers on raids on suspected fentanyl labs, the report said, citing multiple unnamed officials. 

"On the campaign trail, President Trump pledged to take on the cartels," a White House official told Reuters, adding that Trump has "left all options on the table" to stop drugs from entering the country.

U.S. President Donald Trump told Fox News last week that cartels were running Mexico and suggested the U.S. could strike land targets to combat them, in one of a series of threats to deploy U.S. military force against drug cartels. 

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said this week that she ruled out a U.S. military intervention to combat drug cartels following a "good conversation" with Trump on security and drug trafficking.

The U.S. request to Mexico to use U.S. forces was renewed after Washington's forces captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in a raid on January 3, the New York Times reported.

Sheinbaum has previously declined offers of military action from Trump. 

Reuters could not immediately verify the New York Times report. Mexico's Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment outside regular business hours.  

(Reporting by Ananya Palyekar and Heera Hari in Bengaluru; Editing by Aidan Lewis, Rod Nickel // REUTERS)