Drug cartel kingpin among targets in sweeping Trump crackdown on

The Treasury just dropped sanctions on Mayito Flaco, a Sinaloa cartel lieutenant born in Anaheim, California. That detail matters. He holds a U.S. passport, grew up with the same rights as any American, and turned around to order hits for the Los Mayos faction. A U.S. birth certificate doesn't make you loyal to the country. It makes you useful to the cartel. This is the border crisis in shorthand.

The Trump administration didn't send a strongly worded letter. They hit his financial network, froze his access to the global economy, and made it clear that he can run but he can't hide behind his American roots. This is how you fight a cartel. You cut off the money, you expose the infrastructure, and you force these guys to spend their energy staying alive instead of shipping fentanyl north. It's not flashy, but it works.

For years we heard about root causes and social programs, as if cartels were a misunderstanding that could be mediated away. Meanwhile, they built billion-dollar empires and turned U.S. cities into distribution hubs. The left's approach treats a violent criminal enterprise like a public health issue. No. You treat it like the national security threat it is. That means sanctions, arrests, and relentless pressure on anyone who enables the operation.

This is the kind of targeted action that actually changes behavior. The cartels need the American financial system, and the more the president shuts those doors, the more they feel it. We'll take more of this.