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Bondi traveled to Florida to tout the seizure of cocaine and
marijuana by U.S. Coast Guard crews and put a spotlight a key
Trump administration priority to go after drug traffickers
helping to fuel America’s addiction crisis.
Bondi’s appearance at the south Florida port, standing in front
of a Coast Guard ship and stacks of the intercepted drugs,
underscores the Trump administration’s efforts to reshape the
Justice Department to align with the President Donald Trump's
priorities to crack down on violent crime, illegal immigration
and cartels.
Ships, aircraft and drones were used to intercept the
traffickers off the coast of Peru, Ecuador and the Galapagos
Islands, according to Bondi, who said the seizures have led to
sealed indictments against 11 people.
Bondi said investigators have linked two cartels - Jalisco New
Generation and Sinaloa - to the shipments, and described the
seizures as a “major blow” to their financial operations.
“What they did saved countless American lives,” Bondi said of
Coast Guard crews that intercepted the drugs. “This cocaine
would have been distributed throughout our country and perhaps
throughout our world.”
The Sinaloa cartel, Mexico’s oldest criminal group, which
traffics drugs, weapons and people, and Jalisco New Generation
were among eight Latin American crime organizations as “foreign
terrorist organizations” by the Trump administration in
February, upping its pressure on cartels operating in the U.S.
and on anyone aiding them.
“This administration has labeled them foreign terrorist
organizations because that’s what they are,” said FBI Director
Kash Patel, who joined Bondi in Florida Wednesday.
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