The United States has designated Tren de Aragua, the Sinaloa cartel, and six other drug cartels as global terrorist organizations, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday in a notice.
The cartels threaten U.S. national security, foreign policy, and economic stability, according to the notice. The designations follow President Donald Trump’s executive order directing officials to assess whether transnational gangs and drug cartels should be classified as terrorist organizations.
The move marks a significant escalation in Trump’s efforts to combat cartel-driven crime following record-high illegal border crossings under the Biden administration. Classifying the cartels as terrorist groups helps disrupt their “finances through sanctions, including asset freezes and travel bans,” though the scope of Wednesday’s designations remains unclear, Reuters reported.
Last May, then-Drug Enforcement Administration head Anne Milgram, a Biden appointee, said the United States is facing “the most dangerous and deadly drug crisis” in history, particularly pointing to “synthetic, chemical-based drugs, like fentanyl and methamphetamine.” Fentanyl is responsible for around 70 percent of overdose deaths, the DEA noted at the time, with meth responsible for the remaining 30 percent.
“At the heart of the synthetic drug crisis are the Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels and their associates,” Milgram said.
Since taking office, Trump has declared a national border emergency and ordered top officials to prepare to invoke a 1798 law that could allow the administration to swiftly deport suspected gang members without court hearings. Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, has reinforced border security and overseen the deportation of thousands of illegal immigrants.
Tren de Aragua, a violent Venezuelan gang, has expanded its operations across several U.S. cities, terrorizing residents at apartment complexes and engaging in human trafficking, extortion, and drug smuggling. Federal authorities have arrested dozens affiliated with the gang, including 67 members on January 26 alone.
Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel is “woven into our communities,” both in major U.S. cities and other places, retired Drug Enforcement Administration supervisory special agent Brian Townsend told Fox News on Tuesday. “We have some larger locations that are well known for Sinaloa control, like Chicago, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Tucson, Dallas, Atlanta, and New York City.”
“But they have distribution points throughout the United States,” Townsend went on, “and from there, they use those hubs, and then [the distribution] spoke out from there into our communities.”
