United States | A new Mexican-American war

How Mexico has become the “enemy” of America’s Republicans

A growing number of them want to use military force against drug cartels

A man walks along the US-Mexico border in Tijuana, Mexico
Not high enough, apparentlyImage: Getty Images
|WASHINGTON, DC

More than once, as president, Donald Trump mused about firing missiles at the drug labs of Mexican cartels. “No one would know it was us,” he declared, before being talked out of the idea. Mark Esper, the then defence secretary, recounted the incident in his memoirs published last year, astonished that bombing a neighbour could be seriously thought of.

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This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline “How Mexico has become the “enemy” ”

From the July 22nd 2023 edition

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