Presidential Documents

Federal Register / Vol. 90, No. 18 / Wednesday, January 29, 2025 / Presidential Documents 8439 

Executive Order 14157 of January 20, 2025 

Designating Cartels and Other Organizations as Foreign Terrorist Organizations and Specially Designated Global Terrorists 

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the 

laws of the United States of America, including the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), 8 U.S.C. 1101 et seq., the International Emergency Economic 

Powers Act (IEEPA), 50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq. it is hereby ordered: 

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 quasigovernmental 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 


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8440 Federal Register / Vol. 90, No. 18 / Wednesday, January 29, 2025 / Presidential Documents 

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. 

Sec. 4. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed 

to impair or otherwise affect: 

(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, 

or the head thereof; or 

(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget 

relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals. 

(b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and 

subject to the availability of appropriations. 

(c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, 

substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party 

against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, 

employees, or agents, or any other person. 

THE WHITE HOUSE, 

January 20, 2025. 

[FR Doc. 2025–02004 

Filed 1–28–25; 11:15 am] 

Billing code 3395–F4–P 


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