April 24th, 2025: Cartels Deploy New Tactics At The Border & Abbas Torches Hamas
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It's Thursday, the 24th of April. Welcome to the President's Daily Brief. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. All right, let's get briefed. We'll start things off today at the border, where the Trump administration's crackdown is shaking up cartel operations. Now, smuggling networks are shifting and adjusting their targets, and Americans are getting caught in the crosshairs.

Later in the show, India reels from its deadliest terror attack in years. A militant group has claimed responsibility, and now Indian forces are hitting back hard. Plus, Hamas says it's ready to release hostages under a new truce as the Palestinian Authority openly criticizes the Iranian-backed group, accusing them of prolonging the war and calling for disarmament. And

And in today's back of the brief, a major legal strike against a violent migrant gang operating across the U.S. The Trump administration is using the RICO process to go after Trenda Aragua, Venezuela's violent TDA gang that's made significant inroads into America. But first, today's PDB Spotlight.

We'll begin today with an update from the U.S. southern border, where Mexico's powerful drug cartels are shifting tactics in the wake of President Trump's sweeping crackdown on their migrant smuggling operations. According to an exclusive report from NewsNation, the drug barons of Mexico are increasingly pivoting to kidnapping civilians for ransom, including American tourists, to make up for their lost revenue streams.

When America's borders were wide open, cartels were making a killing on what they called, quote, floor fees for migrants looking to enter America illegally. Basically, migrants would pay cartels for the privilege of passing through their territory as they made their way to the U.S.,

Cartels also generated significant revenue from human trafficking operations, with migrants paying to be smuggled across the U.S.-Mexico border. But those operations have been significantly undermined by the Trump administration's myriad actions to tighten security and block access routes, along with their mass deportation agenda, which has dissuaded potential migrants from making the trek.

As PDB listeners are aware, President Trump declared a national emergency at the southern border when he began his second term and deployed thousands of troops to assist border agents in curbing the flow of migrants.

Migrant encounters have since dropped to a record low, plunging some 95% in March when compared to the previous year. The rapid decline is hitting the cartels where it matters most, and that would be in their wallets. And now they're looking for new ways to mitigate their losses.

As I mentioned, one tactic that is gaining popularity involves kidnapping Mexican and American civilians for ransom. They're targeting those who they think have something to lose, like a lucrative business, or who have family members that are willing to pay a hefty fee for the release of their loved ones.

While it's difficult to say how many Mexican civilians have been impacted, we do know that two Americans were kidnapped by cartel members earlier this month outside a sports bar in the Mexican border town of Juarez.

They were held for nearly three days at a house in South Juarez before being rescued by Mexican state police in partnership with the FBI, which provided technical support to track down the suspects. The Americans were found alongside migrants from Central America and China. All had been severely beaten and tortured by the suspects in an attempt to extract ransom payments.

The US State Department has since issued travel advisories warning Americans to stay away from at least six Mexican states due to the rising threat. Meanwhile, the state of Chihuahua, where the abduction took place, has been placed under what's called a "Reconsider Travel" advisory, with the State Department warning US tourists and government officials to avoid traveling between cities after dark and to only take approved transport, like registered taxis.

While the danger is significant, the kidnapping for ransom business is still just a side hustle for the cartels. Their primary revenue stream remains illicit drugs, and as their migrant business dries up, they're reportedly putting a renewed focus on large-scale drug smuggling operations.

Authorities in Texas and San Diego have seen a major influx in narcotic smuggling in recent months and are warning that the efforts of the cartels are intensifying. Officials with the Texas Department of Public Safety, for example, said they recently seized more than 500 pounds of cocaine valued at nearly $7 million smuggled inside a tractor trailer at the far port of entry. That followed the seizure of nearly 800 pounds of cocaine valued north of $10 million in a

in a series of border crossing busts by Texas state authorities. In San Diego, Border Patrol agents recently seized hundreds of pounds of meth, cocaine, fentanyl, and heroin, along with firearms and ammunition, in a massive multi-agency operation that led to the arrest of 20 smugglers. One Texas state official bluntly warned, "...as illegal border crossings decline, Mexican drug cartels are increasing drug smuggling efforts."

US authorities are obviously not sitting idly by. They've been expanding operations using spy planes and drones equipped with advanced radar and infrared sensors in partnership with the Mexican government to track their operations. In late March, the Trump administration also directed two intelligence agencies to train their surveillance satellites on the US-Mexico border in order to help supplement the ongoing efforts. Additionally,

Two Navy guided missile destroyers were recently deployed to the region to support drug interdiction efforts. All right, coming up next, India responds with force after its deadliest terror attack in years, and Hamas floats a new hostage deal as the Palestinian Authority, the PA, publicly slams Hamas and demands disarmament. I'll be right back.

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The terror attack that left at least 26 vacationers dead in the long-disputed region of Kashmir has now been claimed by a terror group widely viewed as a front for the Pakistan-based Islamist group Lashkar-e-Taiba, or L-E-T, further igniting hostilities between India and Pakistan, both, might I add, nuclear-armed.

As we reported on Wednesday's PDB, gunmen opened fire on a group of Indian tourists and one Nepalese national on Tuesday in Pahagram. That's a resort town nestled deep in Indian-controlled Kashmir, marking the most lethal civilian massacre in the region in years. According to Indian officials cited by the Indian Express, the attackers, believed to consist of seven men,

armed with automatic rifles, staged a coordinated ambush during a 20-minute firefight in an isolated meadow. The attack wounded at least 17 and in the immediate aftermath, authorities detained over 1,500 individuals across Jammu and Kashmir as part of the investigation. A manhunt for the terrorists is still underway.

Now, the Resistance Front, or TRF, is a shadowy outfit that Indian intelligence describes as a proxy of LAT, claimed responsibility on social media. The justification given by the group claiming responsibility? Well, accusations that New Delhi is orchestrating a forced demographic shift by settling over 85,000 so-called outsiders

into the Muslim-majority region TRF, the proxy group of L.E.T., issued a chilling threat warning that "violence will be directed toward those attempting to settle illegally"

For those unfamiliar with TRF, the group emerged in 2019 and has since operated as a digital mouthpiece for LAT's broader insurgency Indian authorities say TRF exists largely to give Pakistan plausible deniability, masking LAT's hand in Kashmir's militancy

Analysts at the South Asia Terrorism Portal think tank in New Delhi are unequivocal, stating that, quote, all TRF operations are essentially LET operations with shared logistics and recruitment networks. Indian intelligence also links the terror group to cross-border arms and narcotics trafficking. Now, Reuters notes that TRF has spent the past two years issuing death threats to journalists, politicians, and civil society figures deemed sympathetic to Indian governance.

Pakistan, for its part, continues to deny any link to TRF, while ironically offering the group its, quote, moral and diplomatic support. New Delhi's response to the attack has been swift and forceful.

In an emergency security briefing chaired by Prime Minister Modi, India suspended its participation in the Indus Waters Treaty, a decades-old pact critical to Pakistan's agricultural sector. The shared Atari border crossing has been shuttered indefinitely. Pakistani military envoys in New Delhi were expelled, labeled, quote, persona non grata, and given one week to leave the country. Visas issued under the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation exemption framework

have been revoked and any Pakistani nationals remaining in India under that framework now have reportedly 48 hours to leave the country. India's foreign secretary vowed that the country will "be unrelenting in the pursuit of those who committed acts of terror or conspired to make them possible." India's military units across the region remain on high alert, of course. The country's defense minister echoed the sentiment, signaling that retaliatory action, including military action, remains firmly on the table.

And with both India and Pakistan in possession of nuclear arsenals, this latest escalation in one of the world's most volatile flashpoints could carry consequences well beyond the borders of Kashmir. Okay, turning now to the Middle East, Hamas is set to present a new ceasefire proposal in Cairo, one that includes the release of all remaining hostages and a five-year truce with Israel, but with zero intention of disarming.

According to a Saudi-owned news outlet, the plan envisions a one-phase release of hostages in exchange for an agreed-upon number of Palestinian prisoners, echoing past exchanges that have become familiar flashpoints in this grinding war. The draft also demands Israeli forces pull back to positions held during the short-lived January ceasefire that was negotiated with help from the U.S., Qatar, and Egypt.

That agreement kept IDF troops largely stationed along Gaza's borders, including the strategic Philadelphia corridor. A total halt to Israeli military operations is also a key component of Hamas' proposal. Hamas is further calling for the resumption of humanitarian aid flowing into the enclave, something that Israel cut off in early March in an effort to strong-arm the terror group into accepting a ceasefire.

As we've covered here on the PDB, the blockade was later justified by Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz, who cited intelligence reports that the Iran-backed group was selling humanitarian aid that it seized to bankroll its war chest. Now, as part of this latest proposal, Hamas is asking for international guarantees backing a five-year ceasefire and the formation of a technocratic committee

to oversee civilian governance in Gaza. It's an idea that originated in earlier Egyptian proposals. Perhaps most politically charged, Hamas signaled the potential to reconcile with Fatah, the rival faction that dominates the Palestinian Authority . The PA currently governs parts of the West Bank and has long clashed with Hamas over the future of Palestinian leadership.

But despite the new diplomatic packaging, Hamas's red line remains unmoved. No disarmament. That refusal has, of course, torpedoed past talks, and it would seem that this time is no different.

According to the Times of Israel, Hamas has told Arab mediators, it's open to a long-term truce with Israel, complete with a freeze on tunnel construction and weapons production, but surrendering arms is off the table. Despite Hamas' attempt to sow the rift with the PA in the draft, its rivalry did take center stage this week when PA President Mahmoud Abbas unloaded a fiery speech on Hamas.

Abbas accused Hamas of giving Israel an excuse to prolong its ground offensive and demanded that the terror group release Israeli hostages. In perhaps his most forceful threat since the war began 18 months ago, Abbas declared, quote, sons of dogs, just release whoever you're holding and be done with it. Shut down excuses and spare us, end quote. He didn't stop there. Abbas called for Hamas to hand over weapons and

relinquish governing authority to the PA and transform itself into a political party As of now, Hamas holds 59 hostages, though more than half are believed to be dead And as the terror group signals some diplomatic flexibility on one hand its unwillingness to disarm leaves open the question Is this a real path of any sort to peace or just another stalling tactic?

Coming up next in the back of the brief, a first-of-its-kind legal move as the Trump administration brings racketeering charges against the TDA gang. We'll have those details next.

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In today's Back of the Brief, federal authorities are taking the gloves off in their fight against the violent Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, TDA, recently invoking a rare federal law that traditionally is used to go after the American mob. Earlier this week, the U.S. Justice Department used the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act, or often known as the RICO Act, to charge 27 current and former members of TDA with murder, human smuggling, sex trafficking,

drug trafficking, and other crimes. It marked the first time that U.S. authorities have used RICO charges to go after the operations of the Venezuelan gang, which was officially designated a terrorist group by President Trump earlier this year, according to a report from Fox News. The charges were filed in two separate indictments by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, as part of what the Justice Department has dubbed, quote, Operation Take Back America.

Now, the operation seeks to achieve the "total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations from American communities." RICO charges are unique in that they allow prosecutors to charge not just individual criminal actors, but associates tied to their broader criminal enterprise. New York Police Department Commissioner Jessica Tisch praised the operation, noting it's the first time the TDA has been "named and charged as the criminal enterprise that it is."

The first indictment charged six current members of TDA, while the second charged 21 alleged members as well as associates of a splinter gang known as Anti-Tren, composed of former TDA members.

Officials said 21 of the 27 gang members named in the indictments are currently in federal custody, five of whom were arrested within the past week. The suspects are accused of committing numerous murders and shootings, forcing young women trafficked from Venezuela into sex slavery, extorting small businesses, and selling a pink powdery drug that's known as pink cocaine.

Most of those charged are in their 20s, though the oldest member named in the indictment is 44. They all face multiple sentences of life in prison if found guilty.

Attorney General Pam Bondi hailed the operation, saying, quote, She added that the indictments and arrests will, quote,

As we've been tracking on the PDB, the Trump administration has made targeting the violent gang one of its top priorities and has already deported hundreds of alleged members to El Salvador's mega-prison.

And that, my friends, is the President's Daily Brief for Thursday, the 24th of April. Now, if you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at pdbatthefirsttv.com. And in case you haven't heard the scuttlebutt, if you want to listen to the show ad-free, just become a premium member of the President's Daily Brief by visiting pdbpremium.com. I'm Mike Baker, and I'll be back later today with the PDB Afternoon Bulletin. Until then, stay informed, stay safe.

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