US President Donald Trump has just announced that he will officially designate cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO). It is unclear which cartels will be given the designation. The US State Department after Marco Rubio’s confirmation will be tasked w/ the designation.

The Mexican cartels will be designated FTOs by Secretary of State Marco Rubio under Section 219 of the Immigration & Nationality Act (INA).

This is after the State Department’s Bureau of Counterterrorism has identified that they meet the criteria listed out in the post below.



Criteria for designation:

-It must be a foreign organization
-It must engage in terrorism, terrorist activities or retain the capability & intent to engage in terrorism/terrorist activities
-The terrorism/terrorist activities must threaten the US population & national security



The consequences of the designation as FTOs for the cartels are as follows:

-Criminal prosecution of members
-Prohibited entry into the US of members
-Possible deportation of members if not US citizens
-Assets of the organization can be frozen by US Treasury Department



Consequences of FTO designation for the cartels & those that provide support to them continued:

-Makes it unlawful to provide material support or resources to the FTO
-Sanctions on persons or entities that provide the aforementioned support
-Sanctions of members of the FTO

The designation of the cartels as FTOs is an attempt by the US government to curtail the cartels revenue streams. It also allows President Donald Trump legal authority, under the Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF), to utilize the US military to target a FTO globally.

In addition, this provides the US Department of Justice & Department of Homeland Security additional authorities & permissions when it comes to domestic law enforcement & prosecution activities when it comes to the cartels. This in particular would be important to the strategy.

The next weeks to months will see what plans the current US government has in regard to tackling the problems & threats the Trump administration has spoken about & determined that cartels pose to US national security & its citizens. This was just the first step in the strategy.

It will be interesting to see what kind of response President Claudia Sheinbaum & the Mexican government takes when it comes to this designation.

We are likely to see some form of deterioration in the US-Mexico relationship moving forward due to this initial action by the US.

Please note that this thread isn’t validity or condemnation of the designation of the cartels as FTOs under the Trump administration. This is simply a thread laying out information on what some of the details of this designation by the US government does & under what authorities.