Republican lawmakers are divided over whether President Trump should escalate military pressure on Venezuela to oust President Nicolás Maduro, with some Republicans warning that “regime change” has a history of backfiring on the United States, The Hill reported. 

According to the U.S. news outlet, Senate Republicans largely support Trump’s aggressive targeting of Venezuelan speedboats suspected of smuggling drugs, but some warn that attacking Maduro’s government more directly, either by striking targets on land or putting “boots on the ground,” could go too far.

“I’m certainly following the situation closely. I support what the president’s done. I think the question is how forceful we should do this,” Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) said. “I think we just have to be very careful when we’re dealing with regime change. It seems to backfire a lot.”

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said he believes the administration is pursuing regime change in Venezuela and declared, “I’m opposed to it.”

Paul argued that Trump is being arbitrary in striking Venezuelan boats suspected of drug smuggling while pardoning the former president of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández, who was sentenced to 45 years in prison for partnering with cocaine traffickers to smuggle drugs into the United States.Trump pardoned Hernández earlier this month.

A Republican senator who requested anonymity to comment frankly on Trump’s aggressive pressure against Maduro said the Trump administration seems intent on ousting Maduro even though Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio told senators in a briefing last week that’s not their goal.

On Monday, President Trump issued a new warning to Maduro, saying “it would be smart” for the Venezuelan leader to step down.