A map published by Newsweek shows the dominant areas of Mexican drug cartels against which US President Donald Trump has pledged an immediate crackdown.
Trump said the US "will now start hitting the ground running" in its war against the drug cartels he says are ruling Mexico.
Brandon Buck, of the CATO Institute, said potential targets would be cartel leadership or symbolic attacks against smugglers.
White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said in a statement that the Trump administration was restoring and implementing the Monroe Doctrine to reestablish American primacy in the Western Hemisphere, control migration and stop drug trafficking.
Trump has spoken out harshly on drugs and has stepped up his naval campaign against suspected narcotics traffickers.
His latest comment suggests he is ready for an escalation from a counternarcotics campaign focused at sea into Mexican territory.
But Trump did not provide further details on the timing or location of any planned ground attacks.
Otherwise, 6 Mexican transnational criminal organizations have been designated as foreign terrorist organizations by the US Department of State.
The Sinaloa Cartel is described by the DEA (Drug Law Enforcement Agency) in its 2025 National Drug Threat Assessment as one of the largest traffickers in the US of fentanyl, methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin, and illegal marijuana.
As Newsweek's map shows, the Sinaloa cartel has the largest reach with a significant presence in the state of Sinaloa, from which it takes its name, as well as from Baja California in the northwest to the states of Yucatan and Quintana Roo in the southeast.
It also has a strong presence in Chihuahua, Coahuila and Durango.
The Jalisco New Generation Cartel is also significant, according to the DEA, with a strong presence in central Mexican states including Jalisco, Michoacan and Veracruz. It is engaged in a violent rivalry with the Sinaloa cartel, which killed more than 30,000 people last year. /Telegraph/
