Let’s beat drug cartels the old-fashioned way: Privateers

Donald Trump is aggressively enforcing America’s border and immigration laws after four years of chaos under Joe Biden. As part of his push to secure our country, the president has designated criminal Mexican cartels as terrorist organizations.

This classification is long overdue. Drug overdoses killed more than 80,000 Americans in 2024 alone, many caused by synthetic opioids manufactured and smuggled through our southern border by Mexican cartels. That’s more American deaths than through the course of the entire Vietnam War.

There is nothing old-fashioned about using asymmetric warfare to dispatch terrorist cells — and there is no concern greater than protecting our citizens.

The cartels are responsible for murder and crime in cities across America, as well as untold human suffering by the illegal immigrants they help traffic into our country, with women and children often enduring horrendous sexual assault and abuse along the way. These criminal syndicates deserve utter destruction.

To assist in this mission, Congress should consider hiring a few pirates. Or, more precisely, privateers. Let me explain.

Letters of marque and reprisal are government-issued commissions that authorize private citizens (privateers) to perform acts that would otherwise be considered piracy, like attacking and looting ships, as long as they belong to a certain enemy. Privateers are typically rewarded with a cut of the loot they “bring home.”

The U.S. Constitution authorizes these commissions in Article I, Section 8, giving Congress the power “to declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water.” This was especially useful when the United States was newly born and lacked a large standing army and navy. In fact, the Continental Congress authorized privateering against British ships during our War of Independence.

While Congress hasn’t issued a letter of marque in a very long time, it retains the authority to do so. While tall ships no longer exchange broadsides, deputizing private entities to destroy criminal organizations and seize their assets remains a viable strategy in certain scenarios.

Indeed, certain high-profile patriots have already volunteered for the task.

Using letters of marque could be a novel but effective response to unique threats posed by drug cartels — especially if cartels continue to shoot at Border Patrol agents, shoot and rob hikers on American soil, or otherwise interfere with border security and the repatriation of illegal immigrants.

Congress could issue letters of marque and reprisal authorizing private security firms or specially trained civilians to intercept cartel operations, particularly those involving drug shipments or human trafficking across borders. They could focus on disrupting supply lines, capturing high-value targets, or seizing assets like boats, vehicles, cash, gold, or equipment used in criminal activities.

There are some advantages to this course of action. Private entities operate with more agility than the government, adapting quickly to the tactics of cartels. It would also reduce the financial burden on taxpayers and indeed could add to the public coffers, as privateers receive only a cut of the resources that they recover and return the rest to the United States.

Using private security firms to wipe up non-state actors like the cartels — something we did to great effect against terrorist groups in the Middle East, including ISIS — also avoids putting the U.S. military in direct conflict with the Mexican government. If we can eliminate this violent criminal scourge upon the continent without invading our neighbor, so much the better.

There will be naysayers, of course, who dismiss using letters of marque because it sounds old-fashioned or because they defer more to “international law” than to the best interests of America and her people. But there is nothing old-fashioned about using asymmetric warfare to dispatch terrorist cells — and there is no concern greater than protecting our citizens, especially from deadly threats that Mexico has been unwilling or unable to contain.

Letters of marque and reprisal remain a valuable tool at our disposal to destroy America’s enemies. The cartels are enemies that need to be destroyed. Congress shouldn’t rule out hoisting the Jolly Roger.