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By Dan Gooding and Jesus Mesa
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The United States Department of State branded eight cartels and criminal gangs as terrorist organizations on Wednesday, including Tren de Aragua and MS-13.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote in a declaration entered into the Federal Register that there was enough evidence to change the definition of the groups, known for human smuggling, drug trafficking, and acts of violence against immigrants and American citizens.
Why It Matters
Designating cartels as terrorist groups will make it easier for the U.S. to use military force against them. It would put the groups in the same category as the Taliban and Hamas—extremist groups that the U.S. and its allies have gone to war with.
Read More on Politics
President Donald Trump ran for reelection on the promise of getting tough on border security, including tackling the criminal gangs known to have penetrated the U.S.-Mexico border, and claiming that these groups were the main driver of illicit fentanyl into the country.
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What To Know
The move by the Department of State comes after an executive order signed by President Trump shortly after his inauguration, branding Mexican cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO).
Under Rubio's order, Tren de Aragua (TdA), Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), Cartel de Sinaloa, Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion, Carteles Unidos, Cartel del Noreste, Cartel del Golfo, and La Nueva Familia Michoacana are all now deemed FTOs.
Members of the Venezuelan group TdA have been linked to numerous serious and violent crimes within the U.S. over the past year, including the murders of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley and 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray.
The group also hit the headlines in the summer for its presence in Aurora, Colorado, where members targeted other Venezuelan migrants at apartment buildings in the city. The story became one of Trump's key examples of transnational criminal gangs, and he branded his plan for mass deportations as Operation Aurora as a result.
MS-13, meanwhile, has plagued U.S. law enforcement for many more years, with drug trafficking one of the major crimes linked to its members—some high-ranking—who have illegally entered and remained north of the border. The group was born out of Los Angeles, with a strong presence in El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala.
Mexican groups Sinaloa and Jalisco are both known for their involvement in human and drug smuggling across the U.S.-Mexico border, including the exploitation of immigrants trying to make their way through the Central American country. They are also known for their brutal tactics against their own members and rivals.
The other four—Carteles Unidos, Cartel del Noreste (CDN), Cartel del Golfo, and La Nueva Familia Michoacana all originate in different parts of Mexico. All are known for their links to similar crimes of drug smuggling, extortion, and violent attacks against police and military personnel.
Branding these groups as FTOs allows the U.S. government to maneuver military forces against them, but also means any migrant who pays a smuggling or ransom fee to one of the groups could be seen as supporting their efforts and be prosecuted by the U.S.
Experts previously told Newsweek that Americans living in Mexico could also become targets as the groups retaliate against the new FTO designation. Other immigration efforts to stop the flow of people across the southwest border could also be negatively impacted, one expert said, as the U.S. could not realistically send immigrants back into the grip of terrorists.
What People Are Saying
**Vanda Felbab-Brown, director of the Initiative on Nonstate Armed Actors at the Brookings Institute, told Newsweek: "**The FTO designation does more than just allow military strikes—presidents have launched attacks without it, like against the Houthis in Yemen. Instead, it expands the U.S. military's intelligence-gathering abilities and helps prosecutors target a wider range of cartel associates, including logistics staff, money launderers, and hit men's supervisors. However, using FTO designations and tariff threats as leverage will only work if Trump demands the right actions from Mexico.
"However, cartels will likely adapt. We may see them increasing their control over legal economies in Mexico, such as extractive industries and retail. Yet, this also raises issues—the Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) designations and material support clauses mean that any legal business paying extortion fees to cartels, even unknowingly or under duress, could face legal consequences. This could have a chilling effect on trade and investment between the U.S. and Mexico."
Jason Blazakis, a former counterterrorism official, on X: "Very interesting on MS-13 given it was founded in the U.S. and State Dept hasn't designated a group with such a clear U.S. nexus before."
Doug Livermore, an expert with the Atlantic Council, said in January: "It is unlikely that such groups would passively absorb U.S. attacks... Cartels are highly likely to retaliate both preemptively and reactively."
What's Next
The FTO order will go into effect fully on Thursday, February 20. It is not yet clear what action the U.S. will take as a result.
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