Cartels given terrorist designation: Eight Central and South American cartels were officially designated as foreign terrorist organizations (FTO) by the Trump administration on Wednesday. The list includes Venezuela's Tren de Aragua and El Salvador's MS-13. The six other cartels are based in Mexico. Furthermore, these cartels were formally designated as Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGT). Both the FTO and SDGT designations expand the Trump administration's ability to crack down on these criminal organizations, including laying the groundwork for using armed drones to target and kill cartel leaders and destroy illicit cartel sites. Due to Trump's aggressive border enforcement, Border Czar Tom Homan anticipates increasing violence from cartels, observing, "We're taking money out of their pocket."
