War Secretary Pete Hegseth said Thursday that some drug traffickers in the Caribbean and South America have stopped their operations over the Trump administration's lethal kinetic strikes on alleged drug boats. 

The Trump administration has been attacking suspected drug smuggling vessels in the Eastern Pacific and the Caribbean since last September, which have killed over 100 people.

"WINNING: Some top cartel drug-traffickers in the [SOUTHCOM Area of Responsibility] have decided to cease all narcotics operations INDEFINITELY due to recent (highly effective) kinetic strikes in the Caribbean," Hegseth posted on X. "This is deterrence through strength. [President Trump] is SAVING American lives."

The administration has defended the strikes by claiming that other attempts to curb the illegal flow of illicit drugs like fentanyl into the country have failed, but it has faced blowback over the handling of a strike in September, where a second missile struck a single drug ship to allegedly kill two survivors of the first strike. 

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.