President Donald Trump has ordered the U.S. military to deploy its full force against certain Latin America drug cartels labelled terrorist organisations.

Citing sources familiar with the matter, The New York Times on Friday reported that Mr Trump “secretly signed a directive to the Pentagon to begin using military force against certain Latin American drug cartels.”

According to the report, the order provides an official basis for the possibility of direct military operations at sea and on foreign soil against cartels.

It added the “U.S. military officials have started drawing up options for how the military could go after the groups.”

This move could spark debates on the legality of deploying the U.S. military against drug cartels. However, the Trump-led government declared foreign cartels threat to America’s “national security.”

Since his return  to the White House in January, Mr Trump signed an order directing the State Department to declare foreign drug cartels as terrorist organisations.

This made the U.S. State Department designate Venezuelan and Mexican organisations such as Tren de Aragua, Mara Salvatrucha (known as MS-13) as foreign terrorist groups.

Last week, the administration designated the Venezuelan Cartel de los Soles, or Cartel of the Suns, terrorist groups, accusing President Nicolás Maduro as its head.

The government said on Thursday that it confiscated assets worth $700 million linked to Mr Maduro, increasing the bounty for his arrest to $50million.