WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, the Texas Public Policy Foundation commends U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio for formally designating multiple Latin American cartel groups as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs). This follows a related executive order signed on January 20, 2025 that tasked the Secretary of State with making “a recommendation regarding the designation of any cartel or other organization described […] as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.”
The list of FTOs notably includes the Sinaloa cartel, to which the government of Mexico has been linked in a variety of investigations. TPPF published groundbreaking research on designating Mexican cartels as terrorist organizations in March of 2023. TPPF and America First Policy Institute recently released a fact sheet on the authorities granted to the U.S. government by an FTO designation.
“These violent cartels have infiltrated American cities and destroyed lives through their reprehensible trafficking operations,” said TPPF CEO Greg Sindelar. “TPPF has advocated for cartel groups to be treated as foreign terror threats for years. We stand firmly behind the current administration’s efforts to eliminate them for the sake of America’s national security, and encourage Congress to codify this order with legislation.”
Chief Transformation Officer Joshua Treviño added, “These cartels meet the legal definition of terrorism according to the Immigration and Nationality Act. It is also indisputable that the Sinaloa cartel has likely intervened in Mexican politics on behalf of the ruling regime. Make no mistake: with this FTO designation, Mexico’s cartels — and their friends and allies in Mexico’s government — are on notice.”
For TPPF and AFPI’s fact sheet on authorities granted by FTO designations, click here.
For TPPF’s research paper on designating Mexican cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, click here.
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