Fact Check, Yes, Pete Buttigieg Said He Would Send Troops to Mexico — With Consent

CLAIM: Pete Buttigieg said he would send U.S. troops to Mexico to fight the drug cartels.

VERDICT: Mostly true, though he said he would do so in partnership with Mexico.

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) attacked South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg at the Democrat debate in Atlanta, Georgia, on Wednesday night for saying recently that he would, under certain conditions, send U.S. troops to Mexico.

“Pete, you’ll agree that the service that we both have provided to our country as veterans by itself does not qualify us to serve as commander-in-chief. I think the most recent example of your inexperience in national security and foreign policy came from your recent careless statement about how you, as president, would be willing to send our troops to Mexico to fight the cartels.”

A visibly irritated Buttigieg fired back: “I know that it’s par for the course in Washington to take remarks out of context, but that is outlandish even by the standards of today’s politics.”

Gabbard replied: “Are you saying you that didn’t say that?

Buttigieg responded: “I was talking about U.S.-Mexico cooperation. We’ve been doing security cooperation with mexico for years, with law enforcement cooperation and a military relationship that could continue to be developed with training relationships, for example.

“Do you seriously think anybody on this stage is proposing invading Mexico?”

 

“That’s not what I said,” Gabbard pointed out.

Buttigieg continued, attacking Gabbard for meeting Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad: “I would not have sat down with a murderous dictator like that.”

Gabbard answered: “You were asked directly whether you would send troops to Mexico to fight cartels, and the answer was ‘yes.’ The fact-checkers can check this out.”

Here is exactly what Buttigieg was asked at a Latino forum in Los Angeles on Sunday, and what he said (emphasis added):

Q: Mr. Mayor, after a number of Americans were murdered in Northern Mexico, President Trump suggested sending U.S. troops to help Mexico deal with the cartels. With your military experience, is there a way to deal with the cartels that doesn’t violate Mexico’s sovereignty?

Buttigieg: Well, one of the biggest things I learned during my time deployed abroad is the importance of our alliances, our friendships. And this president, needless to say, has destroyed just about every relationship he can find. That makes America less safe. Whether it is turning our back on Kurdish allies, who put their lives on the line to help us fight ISIS, or right here in our own hemisphere, alienating those very countries that we need to have a better partnership with. Remember, it is in the interest of both the United States and Mexico for Mexico to prosper with greater economic success and security then they have right now. So, if it is in the context of a security partnership, then I would welcome ways to make sure that America is doing what we can to ensure that our neighbor to the south is secure. But doing it in a way that calls into question Mexican sovereignty completely misses how we got here. By the way, a lot of this is a question of the demand side on the United States. Part of what we do is make drug trafficking less profitable by walking away from the failed war on drugs here in the United States. That is a policy that we know through experience hasn’t worked. We have got to do our part here at home, and partner with countries abroad.

Q: But Mayor, specifically — do you see a time when troops can go into Mexico, if Mexico welcomed it, for instance?

Buttigieg: There is a scenario where we could have security cooperation — as we do with countries around the world. Now, I would only order American troops into conflict if there were no other choice, if American lives were on the line, and if this were necessary for us to uphold our treaty obligations. But we could absolutely be in some partnership role if, and only if, it is welcomed by our partner south of the border.

Buttigieg is correct that he was talking about cooperation. But he did, in fact, say that he would send troops to Mexico. The Sacramento Bee headline read: “Pete Buttigieg says he’s open to sending U.S. troops to Mexico.”

Notably, Buttigieg was immediately criticized by fellow Democrats — including some present at the forum.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He earned an A.B. in Social Studies and Environmental Science and Public Policy from Harvard College, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. He is also the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, which is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.