Donald Trump on Friday threatened to shoot down Venezuelan military jets if they pose a danger to US forces, as Washington deploys F-35 warplanes to Puerto Rico as part of the president’s war on drug cartels.The 10 aircraft will join US warships already present in the southern Caribbean as Trump steps up pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, whom the United States accuses of leading a drug cartel.The standoff has grown in recent days as the Pentagon said two Venezuelan military planes flew near a US Navy vessel in international waters Thursday in a “highly provocative” move.Asked Friday what steps he would take if there were further incidents, Trump said: “If they do put us in a dangerous position, they’ll be shot down.”US forces on Tuesday blew up an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean that Trump said belonged to Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan criminal organization he tied to Maduro, killing 11 people.The high-tech F-35 jets are being deployed to an airfield in Puerto Rico, a US Caribbean island territory of more than three million people, US sources familiar with the matter told AFP Friday on condition of anonymity.Maduro — a leftist firebrand whose last election in 2024 was seen by Washington as illegitimate — has denounced the US build-up as “the greatest threat our continent has seen in the last 100 years.”Declaring his country prepared for “armed struggle in defense of the national territory,” he has mobilized Venezuela’s military, which numbers around 340,000, and reservists, which he claims exceed eight million.- ‘Highly provocative’ -“If Venezuela were attacked, it would immediately enter a period of armed struggle,” Maduro told foreign correspondents.White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller took aim at Maduro on Friday, describing him as an “indicted drug trafficker” and saying Venezuela is being run by a “drug cartel, a narcotrafficking organization.”Tuesday’s deadly attack on what Washington said was a drug-carrying boat was a major escalation, as well as an unusual use of the US military for what has historically been a law enforcement issue.There are currently eight US Navy vessels involved in counter-narcotics efforts in Latin America: three amphibious assault ships, two destroyers, a cruiser and a littoral combat ship in the Caribbean, and one destroyer in the eastern Pacific, a US defense official said this week.The Department of Defense — which Trump rebranded Friday as the “Department of War” — said two “Maduro regime” aircraft flew near a US vessel Thursday.”This highly provocative move was designed to interfere with our counter narco-terror operations,” it said on X. It did not give further details. Venezuela has 15 F-16 fighter jets purchased from the United States in the 1980s, plus a number of Russian fighters and helicopters.During a trip to Latin America this week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended the new aggressive approach towards what Washington calls “narcoterrorist” groups. “What will stop them is when you blow them up, when you get rid of them,” Rubio said Wednesday in Mexico.”If you’re on a boat full of cocaine or fentanyl headed to the United States, you’re an immediate threat to the United States.”Caracas accused Washington of committing extrajudicial killings in Tuesday’s attack.

The red beret-wearing Guardian Angels founder running as the Republican mayoral candidate in true-blue New York — who says he has a “love-hate” relationship with Donald Trump — told AFP any effort by the president to sway the election is “not democracy.”Curtis Sliwa — who created the city’s volunteer anti-crime group in 1979 — is the focus of swirling reports that Trump is trying to clear the field for left-wing frontrunner Zohran Mamdani’s closest rival, Democratic former state governor Andrew Cuomo.Those reports suggest Trump, a New York native who made his fortune in real estate in the Big Apple, is considering handing government jobs to Sliwa and sitting mayor Eric Adams to remove them from contention.”I would like to see two people drop out and have it be one-on-one, and I think that’s a race that could be won,” Trump said this week of New York’s mayoral election on November 4.But the 71-year-old Sliwa, who survived an apparent mob assassination bid in 1992, is adamant he is staying in the race to win and has not spoken to Trump.”That’s not democracy,” he said of Trump’s reported meddling. Trump is a weak spot for Republicans in an overwhelmingly Democratic city that has repeatedly rejected the property developer turned populist politician at the polls.”We’ve had a love-hate relationship. We’ve differed, we’ve agreed,” Sliwa, as ever wearing the Angels’ classic red beret, said outside a public school in Queens on the first day back for students as drivers hooted and waved at him approvingly.”I’m (sometimes) going to have to take a stand that’s in opposition to President Trump, and then try to negotiate something that is going to benefit New York because he controls the purse strings to so many of the projects,” said Sliwa.”So it’s a fine balancing act.”Adams came out swinging Friday, appearing at a hastily organized press conference after a New York Times report said the Trump administration was considering him to be its envoy to Saudi Arabia.”I am in this race, (the) only one that can beat Mamdani,” he said.While The New York Post said the scandal-tainted Adams would meet with White House officials to discuss a role next week, the mayor insisted “those reports are wrong.””I am running,” he said, wearing a polo shirt emblazoned with the word “mayor.”Cuomo, who lost the Democratic race to be the party’s mayoral candidate to Mamdani in a major upset and is running as an independent, said “what Eric Adams chooses to do is up to Eric Adams. What Curtis Sliwa chooses to do is up to Curtis Sliwa.”- ‘Crime crisis’ -One area where Sliwa departs from Trump’s hardline policies is on immigration, favoring efforts to integrate migrants by teaching them English and preparing them for citizenship rather than the president’s all-out drive to deport undocumented residents.”When you start raiding the backs of restaurants or the hospitality industry, and there are people who would be living in neighborhoods like this, who may not have legal status, are you going to pull them out? Are you going to deport them back?” Sliwa asked. “Because you won’t have any restaurants, you won’t have hotels operating.”Sliwa does take a hard line on crime that is more in line with Trump’s own zero tolerance approach — even though official statistics show violent crime in the city is at historic lows.”(Mamdani’s) Achilles’ heel is public safety… we’re now in a crime crisis. We have gang shootings. We have blood flowing in parts of Brooklyn and the Bronx, and a 69-year-old grandmother was cut down by gang gunfire — and he had no answers for that,” said Sliwa.Mamdani, a leftist who has become a leading figure of opposition to Trump and a frequent target of the president, declined multiple interview requests.Despite the former McDonald’s manager’s plain-spoken style and tough-on-crime image, Sliwa has a soft spot for animals.”I can’t tell you how that crosses over an enormous Maginot Line of different political ideologies — especially among women,” he said, having personally rescued numerous cats.

South Koreans suspected of working in the United States illegally were the majority of 475 people arrested in a raid on a Hyundai-LG battery plant being built in the southern state of Georgia, a US official said Friday.Steven Schrank, a Homeland Security Investigations special agent in Atlanta, said the operation was the largest single site raid carried out so far as part of President Donald Trump’s nationwide anti-migrant drive.Thursday’s raid stemmed from a “criminal investigation into allegations of unlawful employment practices and serious federal crimes” at the Hyundai Motor-LG Energy Solution joint venture plant in the town of Ellabell, Schrank told reporters.”This was not an immigration operation where agents went into the premises, rounded up folks and put them on buses,” he said. “This has been a multi-month criminal investigation.”Asked by reporters at the White House about the raid, Trump said: “I would say that they were illegal aliens, and ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) was just doing its job.”South Korea expressed “concern and regret” over the raid, and urged Washington to respect the rights of its citizens.”The economic activities of our investors and the legitimate rights and interests of our nationals must not be unjustly infringed in the course of US law enforcement,” South Korean foreign ministry spokesperson Lee Jae-woong said.Schrank said the 475 arrested were “illegally present in the United States” and “working unlawfully.””There was a majority of Korean nationals,” he said, adding that it was the “largest single site enforcement operation in the history of Homeland Security Investigations.”In Seoul, a source familiar with the matter told AFP that around 300 South Korean nationals had been detained.Schrank said he could not give a breakdown of how many of those arrested at the plant, which is intended to supply batteries for electric vehicles, were employed by Hyundai, LG or subcontractors.Those taken into custody have been turned over to ICE for potential removal, he said.- Billions in investment -Schrank said some of those detained had illegally crossed the US border, others arrived with visas that prohibited them from working and others overstayed their work visas.”This operation underscores our commitment to protecting jobs for Georgians and Americans, ensuring a level playing field for businesses that comply with the law, safeguarding the integrity of our economy and protecting workers from exploitation,” he said.South Korea, Asia’s fourth biggest economy, is a key automaker and electronics producer with multiple plants in the United States.South Korean companies have invested billions of dollars to build factories in America in a bid to access the US market and avoid tariff threats from Trump.President Lee Jae Myung met Trump during a visit last month, and Seoul pledged $350 billion in US investment in July.Trump has pledged to revive the manufacturing sector in the United States, while also vowing to deport millions of undocumented migrants.In a statement, Hyundai said it was “closely monitoring” the situation at the Georgia construction site and “working to understand the specific circumstances.””As of today, it is our understanding that none of those detained is directly employed by Hyundai Motor Company,” the firm said.LG Energy Solution said it was “gathering all relevant details.””We will fully cooperate with the relevant authorities,” it added.