Terrorism
Trump designates criminal gangs Tren de Aragua and MS-13 as terrorist organizations
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said she joins Trump in his desire to defeat the cartels. She wants to coordinate intergovernmental efforts with the United States, but prefers each national government focus on their own jurisdiction.
January 21, 2025 12:40pm
Updated: January 22, 2025 10:01am
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday to designate drug cartels and foreign criminal groups as terrorist organizations.
The order singled out Mexican drug cartels and Latin American criminal gangs such as the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua and the Salvadoran Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) that, “threaten the safety of the American people, the security of the United States and the stability of the international order in the Western Hemisphere.”
The order took aim at the Latin American criminal organizations, saying that, “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,”
Within 14 days from the date of the order, Cabinet secretaries will recommend groups or cartels they believe have earned designation as terrorist organizations.
It was unclear what the impact might be on the fight against cartels, but the Associated Press suggested the designation could be another way to bar people from countries where those groups operate.
Trump has also promised to carry out mass deportations and has threatened military intervention in Mexico to fight cartels, something that has been rejected by Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum.
Still, the Mexican president said she joins Trump in his desire to defeat the cartels, and while she wants to coordinate intergovernmental efforts, she wants each government to focus on their own jurisdiction.
“We all want to fight the drug cartels,” the Mexican president said at her daily press briefing. The U.S. “in their territory, us in our territory.”
The move comes as cartel violence has escalated in Mexico's northern states after the kidnapping and detention of kingpin Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada sparked an all-out war between rival Sinaloa cartel factions.
The orders came in addition to other measures including the declaration of an emergency on the U.S. southern border, a promise to implement 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico on Feb. 1 and terminating the use of the CBP One app, which enabled migrants to apply for asylum appointments before they arrived at the southwest U.S. border.
