The United States has designated eight Latin American criminal and drug-trafficking groups as “global terrorist organisations” amid escalating rhetoric from President Donald Trump.
In a Federal Register notice filed on Wednesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, without offering details, that the groups have committed or pose a risk of committing “acts of terrorism that threaten the security of United States nationals or the national security, foreign policy, or economy of the United States”.
Some experts say the open-ended language could be used by Trump to justify expansive presidential powers and policies previously seen as out of bounds, such as military strikes on Mexican territory or stripping migrants of their right to due process.
The eight groups named in Wednesday’s notice are the Tren de Aragua, Mara Salvatrucha (also known as MS-13), Cartel de Sinaloa, Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion, Carteles Unidos, Cartel de Noreste, Cartel del Golfo and La Nueva Familia Michoacana.
While those groups commit acts of violence and exploitation, experts say cartels are motivated by business interests instead of the political or ideological motives typically attributed to terrorist groups.
“The US already takes a lot of actions against these groups. They surveil them, sanction them, and prosecute their members in court. So this decision will not change much in terms of the tools they have at their disposal,” said Stephanie Brewer, the director of the Mexico programme at the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), a US-based research group.
“I think it’s of concern that this is coming in the context of rhetoric out of the White House that conflates migration with crime, drugs and, now, terrorism.”
Crackdown on immigration
Many immigrants passing through Mexico and other countries in Latin America are forced to pay fees and “taxes” to criminal groups, which extort migrants and smugglers alike.
Will Freeman, a fellow for Latin America studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, says that fact could be used by the administration to argue that immigrants are providing material and financial support to terrorist organisations.
“You could accuse anyone – from a migrant who pays a smuggler to a Mexican business that is forced to pay a ‘protection fee’ – of offering material or financial support to a terrorist organisation,” he said.
He also notes that one of the most powerful criminal groups in the Americas, Brazil’s First Capital Command, does not appear on the list.
“I do wonder if the throughline here is that a lot of the named groups are involved in immigration routes,” he said.
The White House has frequently used depictions of irregular migration as an “invasion” to promote a hardline approach to immigration.
The Trump administration has previously threatened to use the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 – a law that allows presidents to immediately deport citizens of an “enemy nation” during times of war – to carry out mass deportations in the US.
Earlier this month, Trump also said that the imposition of steep tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China – another promise from his presidential campaign – was necessary to address a “national emergency” of “gang members, smugglers, human traffickers, and illegal drugs and narcotics of all kinds” coming into the US.
Strikes on Mexico
The terrorist designations have also renewed concerns that the US could carry out military operations on Mexican territory.
“Trump has previously stated that the Mexican government has an ‘intolerable alliance’ with the cartels. Does this mean that the US now believes that the Mexican government is collaborating with terrorism?” asked Brewer.
Following the announcement of the order, Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and an ally of Trump who has embraced his nativist vision, said in a social media post that the order meant the groups were now “eligible for drone strikes”.
But Brewer and Freeman both say that, while combating criminal groups that cause violence and strife across the Americas is a worthwhile goal, doing so requires more than tough talk and military firepower.
“To go after these groups, you have to go after their finances, their weapons supplies, their corrupt partnerships with government authorities,” said Freeman. “And if you’re picking fights with governments all across Latin America, that would seem to cut against those efforts.”
