Targeting Cartels as Terrorists Puts New Tools in Play

In February, eight organizations, drug cartels, and other groups responsible for mass violence, kidnappings, bribery, and more, were added to the U.S. State Department's list of foreign terrorist organizations.

The Trump administration said combating transnational criminal organizations is a priority; this could shape U.S. foreign security policy in the coming years.

The Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco Nueva Generación Cartel, in particular, have become powerful nonstate actors beyond Latin America, establishing a presence in over 100 countries, where they are involved in the production and trafficking of fentanyl and other synthetic opioids.

These groups form partnerships and agreements with local criminal outfits. In some extreme cases, they carve out satellite “narco-states,” where they tyrannize residents and move contraband and cash with impunity.

Designating these groups as terrorists makes new legal and policy tools available that could be the key to stopping transnational criminal organizations' ambitions for global expansion.

Mexican cartels and other transnational criminal organizations currently spend billions of dollars on bribes and expenses. Their payrolls include hundreds of thousands of individuals across a variety of sectors.

The new terrorism designation gives the U.S. government legal authority to prosecute individuals who aid or work for these organizations, even if these individuals are based outside U.S. borders.

The types of charges available are also different, including conspiracy, harboring terrorist organizations and, in extreme cases for narco-states, the label of state sponsor of terrorism. The United States can prosecute, sentence, and potentially imprison individuals domestically as well.

If enough of these individuals are prosecuted in the United States on terrorism-related charges instead of for other crimes in their respective countries, that could disrupt the day-to-day operations of transnational criminal organizations.

It might make it more difficult for transnational criminal organizations to find recruits, too. Extradition to the United States to face terrorism charges is likely a significantly more serious threat than whatever criminal charges they might face in their own countries.

The terrorism designations also might encourage more countries to ramp up their security cooperation with the United States.

No country wants to be viewed as a nonsecure state or a harbor for terrorist organizations. Having a designated foreign terrorist organization operating inside one's borders could create problems, especially for emerging and middle-power countries looking to attract external investments and grow their legitimate economies.

These changes could also encourage U.S. allies and partners to enhance their own abilities to counter transnational criminal organizations and work together to do so.

Following the model of the relatively successful global coalition to defeat ISIS, the United States might be able to assemble a multinational coalition to combat transnational criminal organizations and synthetic opioid trafficking. It could focus on intelligence sharing and building security capacity in the countries most acutely threatened by transnational criminal organization activity.

Such efforts might also improve the way enforcement or intelligence agencies in separate countries work together.

For instance, a coalition could foster direct cooperation between Latin American authorities and those in the European Union and Indo-Pacific, which has been limited. Countering these groups historically has been viewed as a regional security issue for Latin America, but as these transnational criminal organization groups expand their operations, more countries are starting to view them as threats to state and regional stability.

Transnational criminal organizations such as the Mexican cartels undermine global security through crippling violence and state erosion. They are also inflicting mass death inside the United States: Today, fatal drug overdoses are one of the leading causes of death for U.S. adults aged 18–44.

Whether cartels should be designated as terrorist groups was a matter of intense debate for years, and many argue that cartels are not politically motivated or trying to capture and control territory.

But it is clear these dangerous groups are becoming a threat to the security and stability of countries around the world, and thus significant global cooperation will be needed to curtail their operations.