Trump Admin Designates 8 Latin American Criminal Organizations as Terror Groups

Last updated on February 25th, 2025 at 04:23 pm

The U.S. State Department officially designated eight cartels and other transnational criminal organizations as terrorist groups on Feb. 20, raising the stakes as President Donald Trump pursues an expanding border security effort.

This designation announcement covers the Sinaloa Cartel, Jalisco New Generation Cartel, Northeast Cartel (formerly Los Zetas), Gulf Cartel, and the United Cartels in Mexico, as well as the New Michoacan Family.

Thursday’s designation announcement also covers the Venezuelan transnational criminal organization Tren de Aragua, which gained widespread public attention last year on reports its members had asserted control over apartment complexes in Aurora, Colorado.

Lastly, the designation announcement covers Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), an international gang that first emerged in Los Angeles, California, among the Salvadoran immigrant community.

All eight organizations are now listed as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) and Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs) by the United States, putting the groups among the likes of organizations like the ISIS and al-Qaeda.

“The United States remains committed to protecting our nation, the American people, and our hemisphere by stopping the campaigns of violence and terror committed by international cartels and transnational organizations,” a State Department spokesperson said Thursday.

FTO and SDGT listings are meant to block designated groups from accessing financial systems and assets they may have in the United States.

The terror group listings also raise the prospect of the U.S. government taking more direct measures to combat the cartels, including employing military force.

In his first day in office, Trump signed an executive order tasking the Departments of State, Justice, Homeland Security, the Treasury, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to evaluate which transnational criminal organizations warrant terror group designation. That same day in office, Trump signed other executive orders the U.S. military’s role in protecting the territorial integrity and national boundaries of the United States. In his first week in office, he also ordered additional deployments of U.S. troops to the U.S.-Mexico border.

It now appears U.S. military assets are increasingly being diverted toward activities within Mexico.

Earlier this week, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum announced the U.S. government had begun new surveillance drone flights over Mexico, as part of a collaborative effort she had requested

The terror group designations come on the same week that members of the U.S. Army’s 7th Special Forces Group arrived in Mexico, ostensibly on a mission to train the country’s military forces. The cross-border assignment appears to be set to run until March 28, with U.S. Special Forces soldiers training with Mexico’s Marine Corps.

The Mexican Marine Corps has seen a growing role in counter-cartel operations within the country in recent years, and has worked in coordination with the U.S. Marshals Service and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to carry out arrests of high-level cartel suspects.

In statements shared with FreeBase News, representatives of the 7th Special Forces Group and the U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) insisted this cross-border assignment is a “routine, pre-planned military training.” Still, they declined to provide additional details about the nature of the training, and the number of U.S. troops taking part in this cross-border activity.

Nevertheless, the U.S. Special Forces has an established history of working with partner nation forces to conduct counter-insurgency operations, as part of a mission set commonly referred to as foreign internal defense (FID).

U.S. troops could potentially partner with Mexican forces to confront the cartels directly, but the current Mexican government is wary of how the partnership will work out.

Following the U.S. terror group designations this week, Sheinbaum raised alarm about U.S. military intervention in Mexico and her country’s government being placed in a subordinate role in its internal affairs. She said she is considering new constitutional reforms to strengthen Mexico’s sovereignty.

“We collaborate, we coordinate, but we never subordinate ourselves. No interference and even less invasion,” Sheinbaum said Thursday.

Even if the United States and Mexico work out a partnership for military collaboration against the cartels, there are risks of exacerbating the cartel problem.

Claims have arisen in recent years, that cartels have actually benefited from U.S. efforts to train Mexico’s military forces. The Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) cartel, for instance, may be attracting some of the very same Mexican military veterans who have directly benefited from training with the U.S. military.

In 2019, Telemundo interviewed an alleged former CJNG member who said the cartel was attracting highly trained members of Mexico’s military, along with veterans of other foreign nations. Furthermore, this former CJNG member claimed some former U.S. special operators had begun to provide direct training to the cartel.