Calling Them What They Are: Trump's Designation of Cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organisations

On February 20 2025, President Trump officially designated eight Latin American drug cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organisations, fulfilling a strategic objective long associated with the Republican President, who has made combating the cartels central to his political identity.

The cartels, which include six from Mexico, as well as El Salvador’s infamous MS-13 gang and Tren de Aragua of Venezuela, now join ranks with organisations like ISIS and Al-Shabaab, identified due to their roles in drug and human trafficking, murder, kidnapping, and other crimes. 

The idea of designating cartels as FTOs did not originate with President Trump. Terrorist designation was first proposed in 2011 by Congress in response to various killings of American citizens by cartels, and in 2022, Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued a state-level executive order doing the same.

The FTO designation is a significant move in combating foreign cartels. FTO designees are considered enemy combatants who can be legally killed, highlighting a shift towards a more lethal approach. The expanded authority granted by the move will permit Washington to conduct unilateral action, such as drone strikes, special forces deployment, and even direct military intervention. 

Additionally, those providing “material support” to the cartels will be barred from entering the United States, and substantial fines and expanded asset seizures can be levied against them. This is no small move: an estimated 175,000 people are on the cartels’ payroll. 

Washington can now better target individuals operating abroad. This not only threatens to disrupt cartel operations and cripple their international networks, but also serves as a powerful deterrent to cartel recruitment: extradition to the United States on terrorist charges is a far more severe risk than the comparatively lighter criminal charges cartel associates would receive at home - a threat intensified by the administration’s policy of sending cartel terrorists to El Salvador. 

Equally importantly, it is a symbolic move. President Trump has declared that Washington will no longer tolerate cartel terrorism: their “total elimination” is now official U.S. policy. 

The rationale for FTO designation is obvious, as the cartels meet the core criteria under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996: they are foreign-based; undeniably engage in terrorist activity; and said terrorist activity threatens the security of Americans and the national security of the United States.

For decades, cartels have operated with near-total impunity. They have been allowed to expand largely unchecked. Groups such as the Sinaloa Cartel and CJNG exert territorial control over a third of Mexico and maintain a presence in over 100 countries, as well as virtually every American city. 

These are global organisations which threaten global security and stability, and now require the full force of international counterterrorism strategies.

Opponents to the terrorist label are motivated less by principle and more by politics or needlessly pedantic objections. 

Critics argue that the designation will strain the government’s resources in investigating foreign terror threats, diverting federal attention and personnel away from countering groups like ISIS. 

This logic is deeply flawed. The cartels pose a more urgent and sustained threat to the United States and its citizens than most of the groups currently on the FTO list, not to mention the staggering violence they have unleashed across the Rio Grande: since 2018, Mexico has officially reported over 30,000 cartel-related homicides annually, along with more than 125,000 people registered as missing. 

The cartels have also shown little hesitation in targeting American citizens directly, while overdoses are now the leading cause of death for Americans between the ages of 18 and 44: in 2024, over 87,000 Americans died from drug overdoses.

The argument that cartels should not be considered FTOs because they are profit-driven rather than ideologically motivated is also increasingly untenable. Not only do cartels regularly engage in political violence - Mexico’s 2024 election saw over 500 violent incidents targeting political figures - but they have also expressed political positions, such as a preference for Mexico’s former President Obrador, whose weak “Abrazos no Balazos” stance towards the cartels resulted in his Presidential term being Mexico's most violent ever, with more than 175,000 murders.

The cartels have amassed such power and wealth that they operate more akin to insurgency organisations than criminal gangs: they command private armies with military-grade weaponry, and are willing and able to conduct coordinated attacks on state institutions. They have inflicted devastating defeats on the Mexican government, such as the 2019 'Battle of Culiacán,' where cartel operatives overwhelmed government forces, besieged the city, and forced the release of the captured son of El Chapo Guzman. A humiliating moment that openly revealed the Mexican state’s inability to assert control.

Mirroring other terrorist insurgencies, cartels also engage in state-building within their territories: they construct housing, hospitals, churches, and parks, and distribute branded “relief packages” of food and supplies, while crude protection is offered against other criminals, with residents often turning to cartels to resolve disputes over ineffective police.

The cartels use social media to spread propaganda and recruit new members, producing videos and songs (“narcocorridos”) to craft self-glorifying narratives, and utilising slogans such as “Why be poor? Come work for us”. This calculated use of propaganda is functionally identical to how ISIS uses sophisticated tactics to weaponise narratives and legitimise their actions.

If FTO designation means anything, then it must apply to the cartels. For too long they have wreaked havoc and death. If the cartels act like terrorists, they must be dealt with like terrorists.

Image: Wikimedia Commons/FBI

Licence: public domain.

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