This Executive Order is crucial for the future safety of the world’s children. If you are familiar with my articles, I’ve written about what has been happening to migrant children as they were trafficked through the open southern border, how they are used up in some form of slavery and then sent to a biolab somewhere for organ and adreno harvesting. The Cartels have been behind most of the child, human and drug trafficking operations.
This executive order signifies a strategic shift in U.S. policy towards treating drug cartels not only as criminal enterprises but also as significant threats to national security, akin to terrorist organizations, thereby broadening the legal and operational tools available to combat them. A key to shutting this whole thing down and saving the children is to designate the cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, so let’s look at what this powerful EO is all about.
Section 1. Purpose. This order creates a process by which certain international cartels (the Cartels) and other organizations will be designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations, consistent with section 219 of the INA (8 U.S.C. 1189), or Specially Designated Global Terrorists, consistent with IEEPA (50 U.S.C. 1702) and Executive Order 13224 of September 23, 2001 (Blocking Property and Prohibiting Transactions With Persons Who Commit, Threaten to Commit, or Support Terrorism), as amended.
(a) International cartels constitute a national-security threat beyond that posed by traditional organized crime, with activities encompassing:
(i) convergence between themselves and a range of extra-hemispheric actors, from designated foreign-terror organizations to antagonistic foreign governments;
(ii) complex adaptive systems, characteristic of entities engaged in insurgency and asymmetric warfare; and
(iii) infiltration into foreign governments across the Western Hemisphere.
The Cartels 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 Cartels functionally control, through a campaign of assassination, terror, rape, and brute force nearly all illegal traffic across the southern border of the United States. In certain portions of Mexico, they function as quasi-governmental entities, controlling nearly all aspects of society. The Cartels’ activities threaten the safety of the American people, the security of the United States, and the stability of the international order in the Western Hemisphere. Their activities, proximity to, and incursions into the physical territory of the United States pose an unacceptable national security risk to the United States.
(b) Other transnational organizations, such as Tren de Aragua (TdA) and La Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) pose similar threats to the United States. Their campaigns of violence and terror in the United States and internationally are extraordinarily violent, vicious, and similarly threaten the stability of the international order in the Western Hemisphere.
(c) The Cartels and other transnational organizations, such as TdA and MS-13, operate both within and outside the United States. They present an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States. I hereby declare a national emergency, under IEEPA, to deal with those threats.
Sec. 2. Policy. It is the policy of the United States to ensure the total elimination of these organizations’ presence in the United States and their ability to threaten the territory, safety, and security of the United States through their extraterritorial command-and-control structures, thereby protecting the American people and the territorial integrity of the United States.
Sec. 3. Implementation. (a) Within 14 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of State shall take all appropriate action, in consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury, the Attorney General, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and the Director of National Intelligence, to make a recommendation regarding the designation of any cartel or other organization described in section 1 of this order as a Foreign Terrorist Organization consistent with 8 U.S.C. 1189 and/or a Specially Designated Global Terrorist consistent with 50 U.S.C. 1702 and Executive Order 13224.
(b) Within 14 days of the date of this order, the Attorney General and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall take all appropriate action, in consultation with the Secretary of State, to make operational preparations regarding the implementation of any decision I make to invoke the Alien Enemies Act, 50 U.S.C. 21 et seq., in relation to the existence of any qualifying invasion or predatory incursion against the territory of the United States by a qualifying actor, and to prepare such facilities as necessary to expedite the removal of those who may be designated under this order.
The concise summary:
- Purpose: The order explicitly aims to designate certain international cartels and other organizations as either Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) under the Immigration and Nationality Act or as Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs) under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and Executive Order 13224. This is in response to the cartels’ activities which include:
- Convergence with foreign terrorist organizations and hostile foreign governments.
- Operating as complex adaptive systems typical of insurgent groups.
- Infiltrating foreign governments in the Western Hemisphere.
- Engaging in violent campaigns that destabilize regions, control illegal border traffic, and function as quasi-governmental entities in parts of Mexico.
- Implementation:
- Within 14 days of the order, the Secretary of State, in consultation with other key officials, is tasked to recommend specific cartels or organizations for these designations.
- The Attorney General and the Secretary of Homeland Security are also directed within 14 days to prepare for operational actions should the President decide to invoke the Alien Enemies Act concerning these designations. This includes preparing for potential removals.
- General Provisions: The order ensures that it does not impair existing legal authorities of government agencies and that its implementation is subject to available appropriations. It also clarifies that the order does not create any enforceable legal rights or benefits.
1/21/2025 Press Conference
