WASHINGTON — In recent days, the Trump administration has ramped up CIA surveillance drone flights over Mexico, formally designated drug cartels as “foreign terrorist” groups and floated the possibility of deploying troops there to fight organized crime.

The CIA under President Donald Trump has been covertly flying MQ-9 Reaper drones over Mexico to spy on drug cartels, current and former officials familiar with the matter told CNN, part of Trump’s dramatic reorientation of national security assets to the US southern border.

The CIA is deploying unmanned drones over Mexico to search for fentanyl labs run by drug cartels after the Trump administration declared cartels are terrorist organizations.