Trump designated drug cartels as terrorists. Here’s what that means. WaPo
Molly Molloy
Trump designated drug cartels as terrorists. Here’s what that means.
Cartels have set off car bombs and beheaded victims. But designating them as terrorist groups could have unforeseen consequences.
MEXICO CITY — Just hours after his inauguration, President Donald Trump declared he would designate Mexican drug cartels as terrorist groups. It’s part of what he calls a “revolution of common sense,” along with tightening security at the U.S. border.
Trump signed an executive order Monday night asserting the cartels’ activities threatened the security of the United States. “Nearly all illegal traffic across the southern border” is controlled by the crime groups, the document said. “In certain portions of Mexico, they function as quasi-governmental entities.”
Previous American presidents considered labeling the cartels as terrorist groups, but they always backed down in the face of stiff Mexican opposition. (Trump himself was persuaded to drop the idea in 2019).
Why is this a big deal? And why is Mexico so opposed?
What to know
First, some background on the idea of cartels as terrorists
A 1996 law allowed the State Department to create a list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) and punish those on it with special sanctions. Some of the best-known groups on the list are al-Qaeda, the Islamic State and Hamas.
President Barack Obama was among those who thought about adding Mexican drug gangs to the terrorism list. While the narcos might not fit the traditional terrorist profile — they’re not driven by a political agenda like Osama bin Laden — they’ve used similar tactics such as car bombings and beheadings.
President Barack Obama was among those who thought about adding Mexican drug gangs to the terrorism list. While the narcos might not fit the traditional terrorist profile — they’re not driven by a political agenda like Osama bin Laden — they’ve used similar tactics such as car bombings and beheadings.
In the past few years, as tens of thousands of Americans died from fentanyl smuggled over the border, the idea of branding the traffickers as terrorists gained traction. Twenty-one Republican attorneys general asked President Joe Biden to add Mexican cartels to the terrorist list in 2023.
Trump’s new border czar, Tom Homan, said in November that Mexican crime groups “have killed more Americans than every terrorist organization in the world” and that Trump was “committed to calling them terrorist organizations and using the full might of the United States Special Operations to take them out.”
The new order doesn’t specify which Mexican groups would be added to the list. It orders the secretary of state to come up with the names, and to also consider crime gangs from other countries — such as the MS-13 in El Salvador and the Tren de Aragua from Venezuela.
The United States already has laws against cartels. What will change?
The U.S. government has aggressively used another measure, known as the “Kingpin Act,” to target drug traffickers. Suspects on that list, and their businesses and operatives, are barred from using the U.S. financial system or making deals with American citizens.
A terrorist designation would expand the government’s ability to prosecute people who supply services, or “material support,” to the groups. The new listing would also expand the authority to collect “military action intelligence” on the cartels, according to an analysis by María Calderón, from the Mexico Institute of the Wilson Center.
Needless to say, no country wants to be seen as a home to terrorist groups. Mexico has a lot at stake; foreign visitors bring in billions of dollars each year — from tourists sunning on its beaches to executives investing in car factories. Authorities worry that the terrorist label could affect everything from insurance rates to the number of exchange students attending Mexican universities.
But there’s a bigger, geopolitical concern. “The states that harbor terrorists around the world, whether Afghanistan or the Philippines or Mali or for that matter Colombia, do so because there are large swaths of ungoverned territory,” said James Bosworth, the author of the Latin America Risk Report. “Mexico is constantly pushing back against the idea that its whole isn’t governed by Mexican authorities.”
Mexico is nervous that a terrorist designation could raise the likelihood of unilateral U.S. military action. In 2020, Trump floated the idea of a missile attack on Mexican drug labs, according to former defense secretary Mark T. Esper — but he was talked out of it.
Asked Monday night whether he would indeed send the Special Forces to confront Mexican cartels, Trump replied: “Could happen. Stranger things have happened.”
Why the terrorist label could wind up hitting Americans, too
It can be difficult in Mexico to identify who is tied to drug gangs. The traffickers wield wide influence, contributing to political campaigns and interacting with legitimate firms. Crime groups charge protection fees to businesses, from tiny tortilla shops to giant gold mines to the avocado farms that send Americans the key ingredient for their guacamole. Business owners who pay up may suddenly find themselves in the crosshairs of anti-terrorism investigations — and things could get very awkward for their American partners.
Americans, too, share intimate ties to the cartels. The majority of those arrested carrying fentanyl over the border are U.S. citizens. Most guns used by drug traffickers are acquired from Americans. In theory, U.S. gun dealers could be charged with aiding terrorists under the new measure.
The Justice Department would have to figure out exactly who to pursue. Assembling such cases “is very complex and time-consuming,” according to the Wilson Center report, which said the terror-designation tool “has yet to be proven to impact the number of prosecutions substantially.”
What is Mexico’s reaction to Trump’s move?
Any unilateral U.S. military action could destroy the relationship with Mexico, America’s No. 1 trade partner. This country still has keen memories of U.S. invasions and land disputes in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, said Tuesday that Mexico would cooperate with its neighbor on fighting drug trafficking but would never agree to U.S. military raids. “They can act in their territory, according to their regulations and their Constitution,” she told her daily news conference. “What we insist on is the defense of our sovereignty and our independence.”
Arturo Sarukhan, a former Mexican ambassador to Washington, said the problem with adding cartels to the terrorism list was the focus on military solutions to the drug crisis. “You’re just playing whack-a-mole,” he said, noting that cartels simply reconfigure after kingpins are detained or killed. What’s needed is a more sophisticated strategy, he said, including curbing U.S. demand for drugs and choking off cartels’ money.
By relying on anti-terrorism tools, he said, “you’re missing important components of the holistic mix of policies you have to put in place to fight organized crime.”
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Trump’s new border czar, Tom Homan, said in November that Mexican crime groups “have killed more Americans than every terrorist organization in the world” and that Trump was “committed to calling them terrorist organizations and using the full might of the United States Special Operations to take them out.”
The new order doesn’t specify which Mexican groups would be added to the list. It orders the secretary of state to come up with the names, and to also consider crime gangs from other countries — such as the MS-13 in El Salvador and the Tren de Aragua from Venezuela.
The United States already has laws against cartels. What will change?Trump designated drug cartels as terrorists. Here’s what that means.
Cartels have set off car bombs and beheaded victims. But designating them as terrorist groups could have unforeseen consequences.
Today at 10:06 a.m. EST
6 min
A vehicle burns after being set on fire by cartel gunmen during clashes with security forces in Culiacan, Mexico, in August. (Jesus Bustamante/Reuters)
By Mary Beth Sheridan
MEXICO CITY — Just hours after his inauguration, President Donald Trump declared he would designate Mexican drug cartels as terrorist groups. It’s part of what he calls a “revolution of common sense,” along with tightening security at the U.S. border.
Get concise answers to your questions. Try Ask The Post AI.
Trump signed an executive order Monday night asserting the cartels’ activities threatened the security of the United States. “Nearly all illegal traffic across the southern border” is controlled by the crime groups, the document said. “In certain portions of Mexico, they function as quasi-governmental entities.”
Previous American presidents considered labeling the cartels as terrorist groups, but they always backed down in the face of stiff Mexican opposition. (Trump himself was persuaded to drop the idea in 2019).
Why is this a big deal? And why is Mexico so opposed?
What to know
First, some background on the idea of cartels as terrorists
The United States already has laws against cartels. What will change?
Why does Mexico oppose labeling cartels as terrorist groups?
Why the terrorist label could wind up hitting Americans, too
What is Mexico’s reaction to Trump’s move?
First, some background on the idea of cartels as terrorists
Return to menu
A 1996 law allowed the State Department to create a list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) and punish those on it with special sanctions. Some of the best-known groups on the list are al-Qaeda, the Islamic State and Hamas.
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President Barack Obama was among those who thought about adding Mexican drug gangs to the terrorism list. While the narcos might not fit the traditional terrorist profile — they’re not driven by a political agenda like Osama bin Laden — they’ve used similar tactics such as car bombings and beheadings.
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Trump presidency
Follow live updates on the Trump administration, and we’re tracking Trump picks for key administration roles and his progress on campaign promises.
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In the past few years, as tens of thousands of Americans died from fentanyl smuggled over the border, the idea of branding the traffickers as terrorists gained traction. Twenty-one Republican attorneys general asked President Joe Biden to add Mexican cartels to the terrorist list in 2023.
Trump’s new border czar, Tom Homan, said in November that Mexican crime groups “have killed more Americans than every terrorist organization in the world” and that Trump was “committed to calling them terrorist organizations and using the full might of the United States Special Operations to take them out.”
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The new order doesn’t specify which Mexican groups would be added to the list. It orders the secretary of state to come up with the names, and to also consider crime gangs from other countries — such as the MS-13 in El Salvador and the Tren de Aragua from Venezuela.
The United States already has laws against cartels. What will change?
Return to menu
The U.S. government has aggressively used another measure, known as the “Kingpin Act,” to target drug traffickers. Suspects on that list, and their businesses and operatives, are barred from using the U.S. financial system or making deals with American citizens.
A terrorist designation would expand the government’s ability to prosecute people who supply services, or “material support,” to the groups. The new listing would also expand the authority to collect “military action intelligence” on the cartels, according to an analysis by María Calderón, from the Mexico Institute of the Wilson Center.
Needless to say, no country wants to be seen as a home to terrorist groups. Mexico has a lot at stake; foreign visitors bring in billions of dollars each year — from tourists sunning on its beaches to executives investing in car factories. Authorities worry that the terrorist label could affect everything from insurance rates to the number of exchange students attending Mexican universities.
But there’s a bigger, geopolitical concern. “The states that harbor terrorists around the world, whether Afghanistan or the Philippines or Mali or for that matter Colombia, do so because there are large swaths of ungoverned territory,” said James Bosworth, the author of the Latin America Risk Report. “Mexico is constantly pushing back against the idea that its whole isn’t governed by Mexican authorities.”
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Mexico is nervous that a terrorist designation could raise the likelihood of unilateral U.S. military action. In 2020, Trump floated the idea of a missile attack on Mexican drug labs, according to former defense secretary Mark T. Esper — but he was talked out of it.
Asked Monday night whether he would indeed send the Special Forces to confront Mexican cartels, Trump replied: “Could happen. Stranger things have happened.”
Why the terrorist label could wind up hitting Americans, too
It can be difficult in Mexico to identify who is tied to drug gangs. The traffickers wield wide influence, contributing to political campaigns and interacting with legitimate firms. Crime groups charge protection fees to businesses, from tiny tortilla shops to giant gold mines to the avocado farms that send Americans the key ingredient for their guacamole. Business owners who pay up may suddenly find themselves in the crosshairs of anti-terrorism investigations — and things could get very awkward for their American partners.
Americans, too, share intimate ties to the cartels. The majority of those arrested carrying fentanyl over the border are U.S. citizens. Most guns used by drug traffickers are acquired from Americans. In theory, U.S. gun dealers could be charged with aiding terrorists under the new measure.
The Justice Department would have to figure out exactly who to pursue. Assembling such cases “is very complex and time-consuming,” according to the Wilson Center report, which said the terror-designation tool “has yet to be proven to impact the number of prosecutions substantially.”
What is Mexico’s reaction to Trump’s move?
Any unilateral U.S. military action could destroy the relationship with Mexico, America’s No. 1 trade partner. This country still has keen memories of U.S. invasions and land disputes in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, said Tuesday that Mexico would cooperate with its neighbor on fighting drug trafficking but would never agree to U.S. military raids. “They can act in their territory, according to their regulations and their Constitution,” she told her daily news conference. “What we insist on is the defense of our sovereignty and our independence.”
Arturo Sarukhan, a former Mexican ambassador to Washington, said the problem with adding cartels to the terrorism list was the focus on military solutions to the drug crisis. “You’re just playing whack-a-mole,” he said, noting that cartels simply reconfigure after kingpins are detained or killed. What’s needed is a more sophisticated strategy, he said, including curbing U.S. demand for drugs and choking off cartels’ money.
By relying on anti-terrorism tools, he said, “you’re missing important components of the holistic mix of policies you have to put in place to fight organized crime.”
Trump presidency
Follow live updates on the Trump administration and his first days in office. We’re tracking his progress on key campaign promises.
Executive orders: Here’s a list of executive orders Trump signed on Day 1 in office, including to withdraw from the Paris agreement and attempt to end birthright citizenship.
The inauguration: Trump has been sworn in as the nation’s 47th president. In his inauguration speech, he pledged to “put America first” and said that “the golden age of America begins right now.” Here are some of the notable guests who attended the inauguration and the most memorable looks.
Trump’s Cabinet: The Senate has begun the confirmation process for Trump’s Cabinet picks, with Pete Hegseth for defense secretary, former Florida attorney general Pam Bondi for attorney general and Marco Rubio for secretary of state among those appearing for hearings. We’re tracking the people Trump has picked for key positions in his administration.
DOGE: Trump tapped Elon Musk to lead the “Department of Government Efficiency” in identifying government regulations and spending programs for the White House to cut. Here are 10 programs that could be on the chopping block. A legal battle has already begun after a lawsuit claiming DOGE violates federal transparency rules was filed within minutes of Trump’s inauguration.
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By Mary Beth Sheridan
Mary Beth Sheridan is a correspondent covering Mexico and Central America for The Washington Post. Her previous foreign postings include Rome; Bogota, Colombia; and a five-year stint in Mexico in the 1990s. She has also covered immigration, homeland security and diplomacy for The Post, and served as deputy foreign editor from 2016 to 2018.
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Return to menuThe U.S. government has aggressively used another measure, known as the “Kingpin Act,” to target drug traffickers. Suspects on that list, and their businesses and operatives, are barred from using the U.S. financial system or making deals with American citizens.
A terrorist designation would expand the government’s ability to prosecute people who supply services, or “material support,” to the groups. The new listing would also expand the authority to collect “military action intelligence” on the cartels, according to an analysis by María Calderón, from the Mexico Institute of the Wilson Center.
Why does Mexico oppose labeling cartels as terrorist groups?
Needless to say, no country wants to be seen as a home to terrorist groups. Mexico has a lot at stake; foreign visitors bring in billions of dollars each year — from tourists sunning on its beaches to executives investing in car factories. Authorities worry that the terrorist label could affect everything from insurance rates to the number of exchange students attending Mexican universities.
But there’s a bigger, geopolitical concern. “The states that harbor terrorists around the world, whether Afghanistan or the Philippines or Mali or for that matter Colombia, do so because there are large swaths of ungoverned territory,” said James Bosworth, the author of the Latin America Risk Report. “Mexico is constantly pushing back against the idea that its whole isn’t governed by Mexican authorities.”
Mexico is nervous that a terrorist designation could raise the likelihood of unilateral U.S. military action. In 2020, Trump floated the idea of a missile attack on Mexican drug labs, according to former defense secretary Mark T. Esper — but he was talked out of it.
Asked Monday night whether he would indeed send the Special Forces to confront Mexican cartels, Trump replied: “Could happen. Stranger things have happened.”
Why the terrorist label could wind up hitting Americans, too
Return to menuIt can be difficult in Mexico to identify who is tied to drug gangs. The traffickers wield wide influence, contributing to political campaigns and interacting with legitimate firms. Crime groups charge protection fees to businesses, from tiny tortilla shops to giant gold mines to the avocado farms that send Americans the key ingredient for their guacamole. Business owners who pay up may suddenly find themselves in the crosshairs of anti-terrorism investigations — and things could get very awkward for their American partners.
Americans, too, share intimate ties to the cartels. The majority of those arrested carrying fentanyl over the border are U.S. citizens. Most guns used by drug traffickers are acquired from Americans. In theory, U.S. gun dealers could be charged with aiding terrorists under the new measure.
The Justice Department would have to figure out exactly who to pursue. Assembling such cases “is very complex and time-consuming,” according to the Wilson Center report, which said the terror-designation tool “has yet to be proven to impact the number of prosecutions substantially.”
What is Mexico’s reaction to Trump’s move?
Return to menuAny unilateral U.S. military action could destroy the relationship with Mexico, America’s No. 1 trade partner. This country still has keen memories of U.S. invasions and land disputes in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, said Tuesday that Mexico would cooperate with its neighbor on fighting drug trafficking but would never agree to U.S. military raids. “They can act in their territory, according to their regulations and their Constitution,” she told her daily news conference. “What we insist on is the defense of our sovereignty and our independence.”
Arturo Sarukhan, a former Mexican ambassador to Washington, said the problem with adding cartels to the terrorism list was the focus on military solutions to the drug crisis. “You’re just playing whack-a-mole,” he said, noting that cartels simply reconfigure after kingpins are detained or killed. What’s needed is a more sophisticated strategy, he said, including curbing U.S. demand for drugs and choking off cartels’ money.
By relying on anti-terrorism tools, he said, “you’re missing important components of the holistic mix of policies you have to put in place to fight organized crime.”
Trump presidency
Follow live updates on the Trump administration and his first days in office. We’re tracking his progress on key campaign promises.
Executive orders: Here’s a list of executive orders Trump signed on Day 1 in office, including to withdraw from the Paris agreement and attempt to end birthright citizenship.
The inauguration: Trump has been sworn in as the nation’s 47th president. In his inauguration speech, he pledged to “put America first” and said that “the golden age of America begins right now.” Here are some of the notable guests who attended the inauguration and the most memorable looks.
Trump’s Cabinet: The Senate has begun the confirmation process for Trump’s Cabinet picks, with Pete Hegseth for defense secretary, former Florida attorney general Pam Bondi for attorney general and Marco Rubio for secretary of state among those appearing for hearings. We’re tracking the people Trump has picked for key positions in his administration.
DOGE: Trump tapped Elon Musk to lead the “Department of Government Efficiency” in identifying government regulations and spending programs for the White House to cut. Here are 10 programs that could be on the chopping block. A legal battle has already begun after a lawsuit claiming DOGE violates federal transparency rules was filed within minutes of Trump’s inauguration.
Trump designated drug cartels as terrorists. Here’s what that means.
Cartels have set off car bombs and beheaded victims. But designating them as terrorist groups could have unforeseen consequences.
MEXICO CITY — Just hours after his inauguration, President Donald Trump declared he would designate Mexican drug cartels as terrorist groups. It’s part of what he calls a “revolution of common sense,” along with tightening security at the U.S. border.
Trump signed an executive order Monday night asserting the cartels’ activities threatened the security of the United States. “Nearly all illegal traffic across the southern border” is controlled by the crime groups, the document said. “In certain portions of Mexico, they function as quasi-governmental entities.”
Previous American presidents considered labeling the cartels as terrorist groups, but they always backed down in the face of stiff Mexican opposition. (Trump himself was persuaded to drop the idea in 2019).
Why is this a big deal? And why is Mexico so opposed?
What to know
First, some background on the idea of cartels as terrorists
Return to menuA 1996 law allowed the State Department to create a list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) and punish those on it with special sanctions. Some of the best-known groups on the list are al-Qaeda, the Islamic State and Hamas.
President Barack Obama was among those who thought about adding Mexican drug gangs to the terrorism list. While the narcos might not fit the traditional terrorist profile — they’re not driven by a political agenda like Osama bin Laden — they’ve used similar tactics such as car bombings and beheadings.
In the past few years, as tens of thousands of Americans died from fentanyl smuggled over the border, the idea of branding the traffickers as terrorists gained traction. Twenty-one Republican attorneys general asked President Joe Biden to add Mexican cartels to the terrorist list in 2023.
Trump’s new border czar, Tom Homan, said in November that Mexican crime groups “have killed more Americans than every terrorist organization in the world” and that Trump was “committed to calling them terrorist organizations and using the full might of the United States Special Operations to take them out.”
The new order doesn’t specify which Mexican groups would be added to the list. It orders the secretary of state to come up with the names, and to also consider crime gangs from other countries — such as the MS-13 in El Salvador and the Tren de Aragua from Venezuela.
The United States already has laws against cartels. What will change?
Return to menuThe U.S. government has aggressively used another measure, known as the “Kingpin Act,” to target drug traffickers. Suspects on that list, and their businesses and operatives, are barred from using the U.S. financial system or making deals with American citizens.
A terrorist designation would expand the government’s ability to prosecute people who supply services, or “material support,” to the groups. The new listing would also expand the authority to collect “military action intelligence” on the cartels, according to an analysis by María Calderón, from the Mexico Institute of the Wilson Center.
Why does Mexico oppose labeling cartels as terrorist groups?
Return to menuNeedless to say, no country wants to be seen as a home to terrorist groups. Mexico has a lot at stake; foreign visitors bring in billions of dollars each year — from tourists sunning on its beaches to executives investing in car factories. Authorities worry that the terrorist label could affect everything from insurance rates to the number of exchange students attending Mexican universities.
But there’s a bigger, geopolitical concern. “The states that harbor terrorists around the world, whether Afghanistan or the Philippines or Mali or for that matter Colombia, do so because there are large swaths of ungoverned territory,” said James Bosworth, the author of the Latin America Risk Report. “Mexico is constantly pushing back against the idea that its whole isn’t governed by Mexican authorities.”
Mexico is nervous that a terrorist designation could raise the likelihood of unilateral U.S. military action. In 2020, Trump floated the idea of a missile attack on Mexican drug labs, according to former defense secretary Mark T. Esper — but he was talked out of it.
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Asked Monday night whether he would indeed send the Special Forces to confront Mexican cartels, Trump replied: “Could happen. Stranger things have happened.”
Why the terrorist label could wind up hitting Americans, too
Return to menuIt can be difficult in Mexico to identify who is tied to drug gangs. The traffickers wield wide influence, contributing to political campaigns and interacting with legitimate firms. Crime groups charge protection fees to businesses, from tiny tortilla shops to giant gold mines to the avocado farms that send Americans the key ingredient for their guacamole. Business owners who pay up may suddenly find themselves in the crosshairs of anti-terrorism investigations — and things could get very awkward for their American partners.
Americans, too, share intimate ties to the cartels. The majority of those arrested carrying fentanyl over the border are U.S. citizens. Most guns used by drug traffickers are acquired from Americans. In theory, U.S. gun dealers could be charged with aiding terrorists under the new measure.
The Justice Department would have to figure out exactly who to pursue. Assembling such cases “is very complex and time-consuming,” according to the Wilson Center report, which said the terror-designation tool “has yet to be proven to impact the number of prosecutions substantially.”
What is Mexico’s reaction to Trump’s move?
Return to menuAny unilateral U.S. military action could destroy the relationship with Mexico, America’s No. 1 trade partner. This country still has keen memories of U.S. invasions and land disputes in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, said Tuesday that Mexico would cooperate with its neighbor on fighting drug trafficking but would never agree to U.S. military raids. “They can act in their territory, according to their regulations and their Constitution,” she told her daily news conference. “What we insist on is the defense of our sovereignty and our independence.”
Arturo Sarukhan, a former Mexican ambassador to Washington, said the problem with adding cartels to the terrorism list was the focus on military solutions to the drug crisis. “You’re just playing whack-a-mole,” he said, noting that cartels simply reconfigure after kingpins are detained or killed. What’s needed is a more sophisticated strategy, he said, including curbing U.S. demand for drugs and choking off cartels’ money.
By relying on anti-terrorism tools, he said, “you’re missing important components of the holistic mix of policies you have to put in place to fight organized crime.”
Trump presidency
Follow live updates on the Trump administration and his first days in office. We’re tracking his progress on key campaign promises.
Executive orders: Here’s a list of executive orders Trump signed on Day 1 in office, including to withdraw from the Paris agreement and attempt to end birthright citizenship.
The inauguration: Trump has been sworn in as the nation’s 47th president. In his inauguration speech, he pledged to “put America first” and said that “the golden age of America begins right now.” Here are some of the notable guests who attended the inauguration and the most memorable looks.
Trump’s Cabinet: The Senate has begun the confirmation process for Trump’s Cabinet picks, with Pete Hegseth for defense secretary, former Florida attorney general Pam Bondi for attorney general and Marco Rubio for secretary of state among those appearing for hearings. We’re tracking the people Trump has picked for key positions in his administration.
DOGE: Trump tapped Elon Musk to lead the “Department of Government Efficiency” in identifying government regulations and spending programs for the White House to cut. Here are 10 programs that could be on the chopping block. A legal battle has already begun after a lawsuit claiming DOGE violates federal transparency rules was filed within minutes of Trump’s inauguration.