These trips took place amid US President Donald Trump’s broader campaign to eliminate criminal organizations. Transnational criminal organizations, in addition to smaller cartels, have become deeply embedded in Mexico’s society. Another reason it is difficult to respond to transnational criminal organizations is that some of them have a global reach. For more than fifteen years, aid to Mexico has typically been designated for strengthening the rule of law and countering criminal organizations, with questionable effectiveness. Cartels and transnational criminal organizations have permeated every level of Mexican society, and military action alone cannot address this.