The U.S. Department of State has designated several Mexican drug cartels and several transnational criminal gangs as global terrorist organizations, according to a notice in the Federal Register on Wednesday.
Mexico-based criminal organizations including the Sinaloa Cartel, the Gulf Cartel, the Jalisco New Generation cartel, the United Cartels, the La Nueva Familia Michoacana organization, and the Northeast Cartel were designated as terrorist organizations.
MS-13, the El Salvador-based gang known as Mara Salvatrucha, and Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua were also designated as terrorist organizations, the notice said.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in the notice that these groups contain individuals who “have committed or have attempted to commit, pose a significant risk of committing, or have participated in training to commit acts of terrorism that threaten the security of United States nationals or the national security, foreign policy, or economy of the United States.”
“I have determined that no prior notice needs to be provided to any person subject to this determination who might have a constitutional presence in the United States, because to do so would render ineffectual the measures authorized in the Order,” Rubio also wrote.
President Donald Trump issued an executive order on Jan. 20, the day he took office, that called on officials to evaluate whether criminal cartels or transnational gangs could be designated as terrorist groups. During Trump’s first term in office, he considered designating those groups as terror organizations but ultimately did not.
“The cartels have engaged in a campaign of violence and terror throughout the Western Hemisphere that has not only destabilized countries with significant importance for our national interests but also flooded the United States with deadly drugs, violent criminals, and vicious gangs,” Trump wrote in his order.
Analysts have said that designating cartels and transnational gangs would allow the U.S. government to target their finances and individuals who supply them with weapons. The U.S. military could also strike cartel-operated facilities under the designation, they say.
Responding to a question on Fox News last month, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the administration will not rule out striking cartels inside Mexico if those groups attacked Americans or officials at the U.S.–Mexico border.
“All options will be on the table if we’re dealing with what are designated to be foreign terrorist organizations who are specifically targeting Americans on our border,” Hegseth said, adding that Trump would make the final decision.
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