US labels non-state drug cartels as terrorist organizations amid transnational attacks

The Trump administration has notified the US Congress that the country is now engaged in a non-international armed conflict with drug cartels it has designated as terrorist organizations. According to a White House memo, US President Donald Trump is convinced that these cartels are non-state armed groups, designating them as terrorist organizations and determined that their actions constitute an armed attack against the United States. 
The memo said, these groups are now transnational and conduct ongoing attacks throughout the Western Hemisphere as organized cartels. It did not specify which cartels were involved nor how US authorities linked targeted suspects to those organizations.
Last month, US forces sank three boats in international waters south of the Caribbean, allegedly from Venezuela, killing 17 people on board. The memo described the dead as unlawful combatants” and justified the US strikes as self-defence. The strikes have drawn sharp criticism from congressional Democrats. The Trump administration offered no credible legal justification, evidence or intelligence for the strikes.