WASHINGTON — The United States has designated eight different cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, making good on an executive order President Donald Trump signed on his first day in office.

What You Need To Know

  • Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday designated eight different cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, making good on an executive order President Donald Trump signed on his first day in office

  • He cited the Immigration and Nationality Act as providing “sufficient factual basis” for the designations

  • The cartels are Tren de Aragua, also known as Aragua Train; Mara Salvatrucha, also known as MS-13; the Sinaloa Cartel; Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generaction; Carteles Unidos; Cartel del Noreste; Cartel del Golfo; and La Nueva Familia Michoacana

  • In his execuctive order, Trump said international cartels constitute a national-security threat beyond that posed by traditional organized crime

Citing the Immigration and Nationality Act as providing “sufficient factual basis" for the designations, Secretary of State Marco Rubio named Tren de Aragua, also known as Aragua Train; Mara Salvatrucha, also known as MS-13; the Sinaloa Cartel; Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion; Carteles Unidos; Cartel del Noreste; Cartel del Golfo; and La Nueva Familia Michoacana in a Feb. 6 public notice. 

The labels are set to take effect Thursday when the notice is published in the Federal Register.

Trump has frequently blamed the transnational Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua, and the Central American gang, MS-13, for violent crimes in the U.S. Many of the other cartels being designated as terrorist groups are drug-smuggling operations based in Mexico that traffic north of the border. 

Designating a foreign group as a terrorist organization prevents its members from being admitted into the United States and also allows for their removal from the country.

The executive order Trump signed Jan. 20 said “international cartels constitute a national-security threat beyond that posed by traditional organized crime” and “have engaged in a campaign of violence and terror throughout the Western Hemisphere that has not only destabilized countries with significant importance for our national interests but also flooded the United States with deadly drugs, violent criminals and vicious gangs.”

The order said the cartels use assassination, rape and other brute force tactics to control almost all illegal traffic that comes across the U.S. border with Mexico. 

It said the designation is consistent with an order signed by former President George W. Bush to block property and prohibit transactions with persons who commit, threaten to commit or support terrorism, which was signed shortly after the 9/11 attacks in 2001.