Drug Cartel Terrorist Designation Act

To direct the Secretary of State to submit to Congress a report on the designation of the Gulf Cartel, the Cartel Del Noreste, the Cartel de Sinaloa, and the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion as foreign terrorist organizations, and for other purposes. 1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Drug Cartel Terrorist Designation Act 2. Report on designation of certain drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations (a) Sense of Congress It is the sense of Congress that each of the drug cartels set forth in subsection (b) meets the criteria for designation as a foreign terrorist organization as set forth in section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act ( 8 U.S.C. 1189 (b) Designation The Secretary of State shall designate each of the following Mexican drug cartels as a foreign terrorist organization under such section 219: (1) The Gulf Cartel. (2) The Cartel Del Noreste. (3) The Cartel de Sinaloa. (4) The Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion. (c) Report (1) Report required Not later than 30 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State, in consultation with the Director of National Intelligence, shall submit to the appropriate committees of Congress— (A) a detailed report on each of the drug cartels listed in subsection (b) and any other cartels the Secretary may identify, including the criteria met for designation as a foreign terrorist organization as set forth in section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act ( 8 U.S.C. 1189 (B) for each of the cartels designated under subsection (b), if the Secretary determines that the drug cartel does not meet the criteria set forth under such section 219, a detailed justification as to which criteria have not been met. (2) Designation of additional cartels Not later than 30 days after the submission of the report the Secretary shall designate any cartel or any faction thereof as a foreign terrorist organization listed in the report that met the criteria for designation as a foreign terrorist organization as set forth in section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act ( 8 U.S.C. 1189 (3) Form The report required by paragraph (1) shall— (A) be submitted in unclassified form, but may include a classified annex; and (B) be made available only in electronic form and shall not be printed, except if a printed copy is requested by an office of the legislative branch. (4) Appropriate committees of Congress defined In this subsection, the term appropriate committees of Congress (A) the Committee on Armed Services, the Committee on Financial Services, the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Committee on the Judiciary, the Committee on Homeland Security, and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence of the House of Representatives; and (B) the Committee on Armed Services, the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, the Committee on Foreign Relations, the Committee on the Judiciary, the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, and the Select Committee on Intelligence of the Senate. (d) Rule of construction Nothing in this Act may be construed to expand the eligibility for asylum of any alien by reason of the designation of a drug cartel as a foreign terrorist organization.

Summary: Drug Cartel Terrorist Designation Act This bill directs the Department of State to designate four specified drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. (Among other things, such a designation allows the Department of the Treasury to require financial institutions to block transactions involving the organization.) The four specified cartels in the bill are the Gulf Cartel, the Cartel Del Noreste, the Cartel de Sinaloa, and the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion. The bill also requires the State Department to submit a detailed report on those four cartels and any other cartels it may identify. Based on this report, the State Department must designate as a foreign terrorist organization any such identified cartel (or faction thereof) that meets certain criteria for designation as a foreign terrorist organization. The bill specifies that it may not be construed to expand eligibility for asylum.