Second Sinaloa Cartel Member Admits Trump’s Crackdown Is Working
A second voice from inside the Sinaloa Cartel has now confirmed what many on the Right have long argued: President Donald Trump’s tough border and anti-smuggling policies are squeezing the cartels — and they’re struggling to adapt.
CNN’s David Culver conducted a rare interview with a senior figure in the cartel, a man concealed behind a black mask, sunglasses, gloves, and a hat. Despite his anonymity, the admission was blunt. Asked whether Trump’s policies were making cartel business more difficult, the trafficker replied instantly, “Oh yeah. Yeah.” When pressed, he doubled down with a firm, “Yes.”
That short response tells a much larger story. According to the report, cartels have been forced to hike smuggling prices dramatically in response to Trump’s crackdown. What once cost migrants about $6,500 now costs nearly $10,000 — pricing many out of the black-market pipeline. Those unable to afford the higher costs often wind up in debt bondage, forced to work off what they owe to the cartels themselves.
But the adaptation doesn’t stop there. The cartel source revealed that traffickers are now reaching out to young Americans through social media platforms, recruiting teenagers as drivers, lookouts, and couriers. With the Trump administration deploying more military and law enforcement resources to the border, cartels are scrambling to find new ways to maintain operations — and in the process, exposing their own desperation.
This comes just weeks after Margarito “Jay” Flores Jr., once the top U.S. distributor for the Sinaloa Cartel under El Chapo, went on record praising Trump’s policies. Flores, who later cooperated with U.S. authorities to bring down El Chapo, said that cartel networks are being dismantled faster under Trump than at any point in the last quarter century.
“I believe that the Trump administration is doing a great job,” Flores said in his recent interview. “I don’t believe that the Chapo faction or the Mayo Zambada faction will last another year.” He pointed to an unprecedented wave of arrests and prosecutions as proof that this isn’t just tough talk, but concrete action. Flores even predicted the collapse of other cartels such as CJNG if the current pressure holds, saying, “By the time the president’s term is over, the landscape of Mexico and the drug cartels is going to look very, very different.”
The shift marks one of the most aggressive U.S. policies on cartels in history. Trump’s decision to treat cartels as foreign terrorist organizations and authorize the use of the U.S. military in anti-cartel operations is rewriting the rules of engagement. The impact is already being felt in the pocketbooks and recruitment tactics of the cartels themselves.
The contrast to the Biden years is stark. Under Biden’s permissive approach, cartels flourished amid record illegal crossings, fentanyl overdoses, and a surge in organized smuggling. Now, with Trump back in the White House, the pendulum has swung back to law and order.
The cartel insider’s words leave little room for doubt: Trump is hurting them. Prices are rising, operations are strained, and panic is starting to creep into the ranks. From their own lips, the message is clear — Trump’s war on the cartels is working.