US Attacks Mexico, Calling it a “Foreign Adversary”

This story first appeared in the June 26, 2025 edition of La Jornada, Mexico’s premier leftist daily newspaper.

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi yesterday called Mexico a foreign adversary during a hearing before the Senate Appropriations Committee on the 2026 budget.

“We will not be intimidated, and we will keep America safe, thanks to the leadership of President Trump. Not only from Iran, but from Russia, China, and from Mexico. From any foreign adversary, whether they’re trying to kill us physically, or by overdosing our children with drugs,” she affirmed, responding to South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham, who asked if she was in a position to tell the Iranian regime that Washington will not be intimidated and will do what is best for Israel and our own security.

Graham also asked if Mexico is helping with the drug problem. After the questioning, which Bondi tried to evade and even suggested the issue be discussed privately, the Senator insisted: “They (the Mexicans) should know that half their country is ruled by cartels. We’ll never be safe here until we make Mexico change its strategy.”

The prosecutor then accused the Sinaloa Cartel of wreaking havoc on our country, to which Graham responded: “Enough of that shit!” “Fentanyl keeps coming in,” Bondi added.

“We’ll go after them with or without Mexico’s help, because I don’t know the right answers for a neighbor who allows these illegalities, who kills more young people than any other method; more and more people are dying from fentanyl poisoning coming from Mexico. This needs to end quickly,” the Republican warned.

In this context, Democratic lawmaker Jack Reed intervened and raised another key issue: “What are we doing to prevent American weapons from reaching Mexico to supply the cartels?”

“That’s an issue that requires support from both sides: Mexico and the United States,” the prosecutor responded, but Reed persisted: “What is the United States doing, for its part, to address the problem?”

Bondi stated that they are arresting people who have weapons illegally in our country: “We don’t send them back to Mexico with weapons. We send them to prison.”

Reed challenged the prosecutor again: “No, you are allowing weapons to be purchased in the United States and transported across the border; most of these criminal groups have become military organizations because they are using American arsenals and technology.”

The official asserted that this had been a policy for the previous four years, during Joe Biden’s administration. Not satisfied with her response, the Democratic legislator interrupted her: “No, what are you doing to stop the flow of weapons to Mexico?”

Bondi asserted that the U.S. borders are closed, and that no weapons are entering or leaving the country.

“We arrested members of the Sinaloa cartel, MS-13 in El Salvador, and the Tren de Aragua (in Venezuela); we confiscated 14,600 weapons since Donald Trump became president; that’s a 33 percent increase compared to the previous administration,” the prosecutor said.