Every day, law enforcement officers throughout the nation deal with the ongoing toll that Mexican cartels thrust on communities. The drug trade leaves a trail of death and addiction. Human trafficking and smuggling exploit victims in plain sight. Both generate billions of dollars each year for cartels (tinyurl.com/58cxz83r), while costing American taxpayers billions more in countering the efforts (tinyurl.com/46h4cyvk). People may view Mexican cartels as a distant problem or as criminal organizations that are so far removed that the idea of them influencing local communities does not connect at the street level.

Cartels operate out of Mexico, but they are ever present within the United States. Today, cartels are involved in much more than illegal drugs, human trafficking or even smuggling. After 2006, cartels fragmented, leading to increased violence and, ultimately, new revenue opportunities. All the while, cartel influence grew, affecting media, politics and culture.

After 2006, cartels fragmented, leading to increased violence and, ultimately, new revenue opportunities. All the while, cartel influence grew, affecting media, politics and culture.

On February 20, 2025, the United States Department of State designated six Mexican criminal organizations, or cartels, as foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs) and specially designated global terrorists (tinyurl.com/4uu884k4). The six cartels are the Sinaloa Cartel, Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG), Northeast Cartel or Los Zetas, La Nueva Familia Michoacana (LFM), Gulf Cartel and Cárteles Unidos (CU).

Designating Mexican cartels as FTOs marks a significant change in the cartel strategy (tinyurl.com/384t5m9k). Enhanced legal authority, interagency coordination and improved training should strengthen law enforcement efforts to disrupt cartel networks, but operational challenges within policing and American communities must be taken into consideration. Before looking at the effect within the United States, it helps to understand the culture and systems in Mexico.

Mexico conditions

Security conditions in Mexico are tenuous. To the unsuspecting tourists, Mexico is the land of peaceful vacation spots like Puerta Vallarta, Cabo San Lucas or Cancún. However, Mexicans experience ever-growing uncertainty on whether law and order will ever take hold in their country. Even in these seemingly safe areas, corruption and violence are part of the social fabric (tinyurl.com/52cst2a2). For years, organized crime groups have become more violent and more industrious throughout Mexico.

A common misnomer is that Mexican cartels strictly operate in the drug smuggling and trafficking business. Their operations branched out into other areas following the implementation of the kingpin strategy (targeting the top leaders and command structure of criminal organizations to dismantle the network). Major cartels and smaller regional or local criminal organizations generate their income in various ways, including kidnapping, extortion, oil theft, human smuggling and trafficking, protection rackets and taxing agricultural industries. Further, cartels do not limit their activity within the confines of Mexico. Their work extends boundaries and man-made border barriers. Cartel affiliates negatively impact communities and law enforcement efforts in every state of the United States and Canada.

How did we get here?

The FTO designations are significant for Mexico’s security conditions, as well as the expected impact on U.S. law enforcement. First, let’s examine the current Mexican security conditions and briefly describe the evolution over the last 20 years. Mexico currently experiences a situation where de facto and parallel governments work with or independently of the national, state and local governments. Impunity for violent crime is well over 90% in Mexico and mass graves are found at an alarming rate (tinyurl.com/ykwh6y63). A conservative estimate is that since 2006, 100,000 people have been missing and over 400,000 have been killed. Citizen trust in Mexico’s law enforcement and inefficient criminal justice system remains extremely low.

Meanwhile, over the past 20 years, U.S. border security spending has increased exponentially. Between 2001 and 2020, the U.S. spent over $1 trillion to secure the nation’s borders (tinyurl.com/4cr7ucnv). This does not take into consideration the amount local and state law enforcement spent on the efforts to battle the drug trade and human smuggling and trafficking.

What led to the extreme violence, breakdown in the criminal justice system and the inability of Mexican authorities to effectively manage organized crime? Why is it impacting U.S. law enforcement? The 2008–2021 binational Mérida Initiative and the application of Mexico’s kingpin strategy partly shaped the current environment. The Mérida Initiative pumped billions of dollars and resources into Mexico to fight cartels. The kingpin strategy fragmented groups and increased crime and violence (tinyurl.com/ycxbrbzp).

Instead of dismantling and eliminating Mexican organized crime, cartels became more influential, increased violence and upended society in Mexico. As a response, the United States spent billions of more dollars on border security resources; yet drugs continue to plague communities with disastrous results, leaving local and state law enforcement to manage the chaos. What’s more, the cartels are not just working in Mexico.

Every region of the United States has cartel affiliates working within them (tinyurl.com/u8h83af2). Time will tell as to what extent, but it is evident that cartel actions are becoming more ambitious and bold. Canada is not immune either. CJNG recently offered over $50,000 for a “hit” in Canada (tinyurl.com/muz9ub48). Journalist Katarina Szulc states, “Mexican cartels are no longer limited to international drug trafficking. They are now outsourcing murder globally, enlisting and equipping operatives across continents” (tinyurl.com/2mb4u83p).

So — will designating Mexican cartels as FTOs help law enforcement officers across the country combat these criminal organizations? Maybe.

Criminal organizations, terrorist groups or both?

It is generally accepted that political or ideological goals drive FTO behavior and that organized criminal organizations, like Mexican cartels, are driven by financial gain and the ability to influence the behavior of society. By society, I mean cartels and organized criminal groups instill the cooperation of political figures, security personnel and the general population by utilizing a system of consequences. These consequences are punishment or reward-based.

The recent designation of Mexican cartels upends the general belief that criminal organizations are distinct from FTO. Instead, when looking at the cartel behaviors, there is a strong argument that their actions align closer to federal statute (tinyurl.com/488r6yvw). The behaviors of Mexican cartels and other FTOs are similar.

• Both employ the use of kidnappings, assassinations and extortion to accomplish their goals (tinyurl.com/2m4jtd7u).
• Terror groups seek to challenge or replace governments to gain legitimacy. Mexican cartels act as parallel or de facto governments while influencing elections and candidates (tinyurl.com/7c9jkjz6).
• Terrorist groups often seek widespread media exposure to amplify their message. Mexican cartels shape the narrative through violence on journalists and spreading propaganda.
• Terrorist attacks typically target broad populations indiscriminately. Likewise, cartels attack whoever gets in their way, and they don’t discriminate (tinyurl.com/ypmpht7j).

Impact on U.S. law enforcement

Prior binational initiatives, along with the kingpin strategy, haven’t worked to combat Mexican cartels, so the United States acted unilaterally with a new strategy. That strategy includes the designation of six Mexican cartels as FTOs and is geared toward eliminating cartels and transnational criminal organizations (tinyurl.com/4tp7jtw2). State and local law enforcement agencies may benefit from the FTO designation in the fight against cartel members operating in the United States. First, investigations leading
to cartel members or even business or personal associations with them increase penalties and the ability to freeze assets (tinyurl.com/5faf92xp).

Many states have laws regarding terrorism, and with the designation of cartels as FTOs, agencies might be successful in charging individuals under a terror-related violation (tinyurl.com/4hxuwuv7). Federal, state and local agencies working together, especially on task forces, can leverage both federal and state terrorism laws in working to remove cartel links within the United States.

Finally, the FTO designation allows state and local law enforcement an opportunity to assess how resources are allocated. Leaders may consider law enforcement training that targets terrorism law, intelligence, forensics or other techniques to properly identify and link individuals or groups to Mexican cartels operating well outside agency jurisdictions. Understanding the role of finances often leads to identifying new links to cartels within Mexico.

Prepping for future enforcement

Every U.S. law enforcement agency, no matter the location or size, should understand the role cartels may or already play within their communities. Mexican cartels have taken on more violent tactics (tinyurl.com/bdzajf5z); they’ve become politically motivated, resembling other terrorist organizations in their methods and goals. The United States’ designation of six Mexican cartels as foreign terrorist organizations doesn’t just focus efforts on an elimination strategy of cartel operations within
Mexico — Mexican cartels are also on notice within the United States.

The FTO designation allows for increased abilities of state and local police to work with federal agencies, or they can even work alone while enforcing state terrorism laws. State and local organizational leaders should consider increased training for law enforcement officers in counterterrorism, identification and tactics of Mexican cartel members, digital and accounting forensics, and intelligence to identify new ways to utilize the FTO designations to address the crime that cartels bring to the United States. Working with federal authorities in this new strategy can likely help all law enforcement officials find innovative ways to make communities safer.