Trump vows to use NAVY blockades to 'wage war' on drug cartels

Donald Trump's updated plan to tackle the southern border crisis should he earn a second term in the White House in 2024 includes deploying the Navy to combat drug traffickers using U.S. waters to smuggle drugs into the country.

The announcement – released in the form of a nearly five-minute video and subsequent statement – came at the same time President Joe Biden was delivering his first-ever speech dedicated solely to the southern border crisis.

Trump wants to 'wage a war' on cartels and promised to restore border policies that he claims brought the drug smuggling to a 45-year low and vowed to wipe out the drug cartels, 'just as we took down ISIS'.

'Every day, drug traffickers are using the waters of our region to ship their lethal positions to America,' he said in his video posted to Truth Social.

The former president added: 'In addition to restoring strong border security, I will deploy all necessary military assets, including the U.S. Navy, to impose the full Naval embargo on the cartels.'

Meanwhile, in Washington, D.C., President Biden announced that he will continue to use COVID-19 restrictions to 'rapidly' expel border crossers.

But he also said that he would allow up to 30,000 people from Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Haiti to enter the U.S. by air monthly.

'We can't stop people from making the journey,' Biden said in his Thursday remarks. 'But we can require them to come here in an orderly way under U.S. law.'

Trump has a less friendly approach to migration.

'It's now time for America to wage war on the cartels,' the former president said in his video. 'In this war, Joe Biden decided against the United States and with the cartels.'

'Biden's open border policies are a deadly betrayal of our nation,' he continued. 'When I'm president, it will be the policy of the United States to take down the cartels, just as we took down ISIS and the ISIS caliphate.'

Reuters reported ahead of Biden's immigration speech Thursday the broad outlines of the White House's plan - which penalizes those who arrive on foot at the U.S.-Mexico border, but also allows asylum seekers to enter the country. 

'The legal pathways that we're announcing today are generous, but at the same time there are serious consequences for circumventing them,' a senior administration official told Reuters.  

Biden also confirmed he will make a border stop in El Paso, Texas, Sunday, as he's due in Mexico for the 'three amigos' summit Monday and Tuesday. 

Biden said the delay was due to waiting to see how the courts would treat Title 42, the COVID-19 pandemic order that allowed for quick expulsion of migrants. 

'I wanted to make sure that I knew what the outcome or at least the near outcome was on Title 42 before I went down,' Biden said.

Republican have called on him for months to make the trek. 

'Republicans haven't been serious about this at all, come on,' the president said.  

Biden pushed Republicans - who took over the House majority on Tuesday, though are still without a speaker - to work with him to get new immigration laws passed.

'We need more resources to secure the border, yet again extreme Republicans have said no,' Biden complained. 'But if the extreme Republicans continue to demagogue on this issue ... I'm left with only one choice, to act on my own.'

Biden had teased a trip to the border Wednesday while traveling to and from Ohio and Kentucky to tout his bipartisan infrastructure law. 

'That's my intention, we're working out the details now,' he said on tarmac as he departed the Cincinnati area when asked if a border trip would be happening ahead of his meetings with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.   

Upon landing at the White House he said he hoped to see 'peace and security' at the southern border. 

'No, I'm going to see what is going on. I'm going to be making a speech tomorrow on border security and you'll hear more about it tomorrow,' he said.