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![handle is hein.crs/govesrr0001 and id is 1 raw text is:
Designating Cartels and Other Criminal
Organizations as Foreign Terrorists: Recent
Developments
Updated March 10, 2025
In furtherance of President Donald Trump's executive order (E.O.) Designating Cartels and Other
Organizations as Foreign Terrorist Organizations and Specially Designated Global Terrorists (E.O.
14157 of January 20, 2025), Secretary of State Marco Rubio determined on February 6, 2025, that eight
entities meet the criteria for being designated as both Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) and
Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs, pursuant to E.O. 13224, as amended). The designations
took effect on February 20, 2025, when they were published in the Federal Register.
Secretary Rubio identified as FTOs/SDGTs six Mexico-based entities known for their role in a wide range
of criminal activity, including illicit drug production and trafficking, and brutal tactics: the Sinaloa Cartel,
Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacian (CJNG), Cartel del Noreste (formerly Los Zetas), Gulf Cartel, La
Nueva Familia Michoacana, and Carteles Unidos (an alliance of several criminal groups). Secretary
Rubio also identified two transnational Latin American gangs: the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and Tren
de Aragua (TdA).
E.O. 14157 establishes that [i]t is the policy of the United States to ensure the total elimination of these
organizations' presence in the United States and their ability to threaten the territory, safety, and security
of the United States through their extraterritorial command-and-control structures, thereby protecting the
American people and the territorial integrity of the United States.
Policy Context
The decision to designate these groups as terrorists marks a new chapter in the debate regarding whether
some of Mexico's drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) and other transnational criminal organizations
(TCOs) bear enough resemblance to terrorist groups to be identified and treated as such for U.S. law
enforcement and national security purposes. (Other FTO- and SDGT-designated entities have reportedly
engaged in profit-motivated criminal activity.) Congress has long participated in this debate, having seen
bills introduced to designate certain Mexican cartels as FTOs since 2011 (see, for example, H.R. 1270 in
the 112th Congress, S. 1048 in the 118th Congress, and H.R. 885 in the 119th Congress).
Congressional Research Service
https://crsreports.congress.gov
IN11205
CRS INSIGHT
Prepared for Members and
Committees of Congress](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.crs/govesrr0001&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)