trump
After signing, President Donald Trump holds up an executive order rolling back regulations from the 2010 Dodd-Frank law on Wall Street reform at the White House in Washington, D.C. Feb. 3, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo

President Donald Trump signed three new executive orders Thursday. While the exact details of the orders were not yet clear, multiple reports indicated they targeted drug cartels, violent crimes and crimes against law enforcement.

Trump signed the orders at the swearing in of Attorney General Jeff Sessions. "These dangerous times require a determined attorney general," Trump said in the Oval Office, according to Reuters.

"I'm signing three executive actions today designed to restore safety in America," Trump said.

Trump said he would instruct the Departments of Justice and Homeland security to "to break the back of the criminal cartels," according to Matt Zapotosky of the Washington Post. Trump also said the Justice Department would implement a task force aimed at stopping violent crime and would also formulate "a plan to stop crime and crimes of violence against law enforcement officers," according to Zapotosky on Twitter.

Sessions, a former Alabama senator, said he planned to tackle crime in the U.S. in his new position. "We have a crime problem," he said. "I wish the rise that we're seeing in crime in America today were some sort of aberration or blip. ... This is a dangerous, permanent trend that places the health and safety of the American people at risk."

Trump may have already signaled how the U.S. could go after drug cartels and crime associated with the groups. The president said in an interview with Fox's Bill O'Reilly that he thinks Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto would be "very willing" to take advantage of American military support to help fight the cartels.

"We have to do something about the cartels, I did talk to him about it. I want to help him with it," Trump said in the interview that aired Monday. "But I will tell you, I certainly offered him help on knocking out the drug cartels because we have got a problem. Don't forget those cartels are operating in our country, and they are poisoning the youth of our country."

RELATED STORIES
Mexico Donald trump