Trump labelled suspected gang members inside the US as 'enemy combatants' - essentially terrorists. The term has been used as a way to detain cartel members more easily and limit their ability to challenge their imprisonment.

The stunning segment published on Sunday, comes as Trump administration examines whether the 'enemy combatant' designation could be applied to suspected narco-terrorists outside the States as a way to potentially give the US justification to conduct lethal strikes against them.

The administration has said it is only considering ways to use the label against suspected members of the eight groups Trump has designated as foreign terrorist organizations, including Tren de Aragua and MS-13.

But instead of focusing on the legal ramifications or victims of cartel violence, CNN’s reporter turned to the drug trafficker himself to ask how the gang member felt about the label.

'Well, the situation is ugly but we have to eat,' the cartel member replied.

'What's your message to Donald Trump if he's watching this?' the reporter pushed.

'My respect. According to him, he's looking out for his people. But the problem is the consumers are in the United States. If there weren't any consumers we would stop.'

The online backlash was swift and brutal with those watching the exchange far from impressed with CNN's line of questioning.

'I feel like these kinds of journalists fetishize criminals. It strikes me as similar to the women who would throw themselves at Ted Bundy after he was arrested,' wrote Mark Valorian.

'This is absolutely evil,' stated TS Nelson. 'Interviewing cartel...the ppl that human traffik children, smuggle drugs into the US, rape, murder and rob ppl. Just when you think MSM can't sink any lower the next day happens.'

'So CNN is concerned about hurting the cartel's feelings? This isn't the flex they think it is. It's offensive to Americans,' tweeted Patty Free.

'That 'journalist' is an enabler. She's enabling terrorists. She should be arrested,' demanded one.

'Well, we need to be respectful and not hurt the cartel members feelings,' mocked another X user.

'The point of labeling them as terrorists isn't just to be able to go after them but to go after those, banks in particular, that do business with the cartels. The cartels are about to find out what happens when their money gets frozen and taken,' explained one on X.

The Republican president has touted his immigration crackdown as he marked his 100th day in office this week.

Trump won the White House election last November in large part on promises to combat what he repeatedly claimed is an invasion of criminal migrants.

Trump has sent troops to the Mexican border, imposed tariffs on Mexico and Canada for allegedly not doing enough to stop illegal crossings, and designated gangs like TdA and MS-13 as terrorist groups.

In March Trump invoked the little-known Alien Enemies Act and flew two planeloads of alleged Tren de Aragua members to El Salvador's notorious maximum security CECOT prison.

In a proclamation, Trump said Tren de Aragua was engaged in 'hostile actions' and 'threatening an invasion or predatory incursion against the territory of the United States,' adding that Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro was pulling the strings.

In the most publicized case to date, Maryland resident Kilmar Abrego Garcia was deported to CECOT before the Trump administration admitted he was sent there due to an 'administrative error.'

Last week, Trump said he has not spoken to El Salvador's president about returning Abrego Garcia.

In an ABC News interview on Tuesday, Trump said he could help return the. man with a single phone call but would not, despite the US Supreme Court's April 10 order for his administration to 'facilitate' his release.

Trump's administration has argued that only El Salvador can act to return him .

Abrego Garcia, 29, a Salvadoran migrant who was living in Maryland with a work permit, was detained by U.S. immigration officers in March and questioned about alleged gang ties before being sent on one of three deportation flights to El Salvador with Venezuelan migrants despite a protective order allowing him to remain in the U.S.

The White House has repeated the unproven accusation that Abrego Garcia is part of criminal gang MS-13, which the administration has designated a foreign terrorist group.

His lawyers deny any gang affiliation, saying he left El Salvador at age 16 to escape such violence and received a protective order in 2019 to continue living in the US.

Department of Homeland Security assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin made the administration's position known.

'The facts are clear: Kilmar Abrego Garcia is a violent illegal alien who abuses women and children. He had no business being in our country and we are proud to have deported this violent thug.'

On Sunday, Trump said he was unsure whether people in the US are entitled to due process rights guaranteed in the US Constitution as his administration pushes aggressively to deport immigrants who are in the country illegally and other non-citizens.

Trump made his comments during an interview on NBC's Meet the Press with Kristen Welker.

Welker asked Trump whether he agreed with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who said last month that 'of course' all people in the US are entitled to due process, which generally requires the government to provide notice and a hearing before taking certain adverse legal actions.

'I don't know. I'm not, I'm not a lawyer. I don't know,' Trump said, adding that such a requirement would mean 'we'd have to have a million or 2 million or 3 million trials.'

Trump added that his lawyers 'are going to obviously follow what the Supreme Court said.'

The Fifth Amendment provides 'due process of law,' meaning a person has certain rights when it comes to being prosecuted for a crime. Also, the 14th Amendment says no state can 'deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.'

Trump said he has 'brilliant lawyers ... and they are going to obviously follow what the Supreme Court said.'

He said he was pushing to deport 'some of the worst, most dangerous people on Earth,' but that courts are getting in his way.

'I was elected to get them the hell out of here, and the courts are holding me from doing it,' Trump said.

On April 19 the Supreme Court justices temporarily barred the Trump administration from deporting a group of Venezuelan migrants it accused of being gang members.

Trump's administration, which invoked the AEA, a rarely used wartime law, has urged the justices to lift or narrow their order.