Cartels have set off car bombs and beheaded victims. But designating them as terrorist groups could have unforeseen consequences.

His administration would have more power to impose economic penalties and travel restrictions, and potentially even take military action inside foreign countries.

Donald Trump returned to the US presidency on January 20 with a flurry of executive orders. This included the designation of criminal gangs and drug cartels operating south of the Mexico border as “foreign terrorist organisations” – a first for a US president. The state department will now decide which groups are added to the list.

The full implications of designating the cartels as terrorist organizations will depend, in large part, to how the administration follows through.

We are riding shotgun with border patrol agents as they drive us along the state line, where Texas turns into New Mexico and both states border Chihuahua, Mexico. This is the first embed given to any world news outlet by the U.

President Donald Trump has designated Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, which could set the stage for sending American special operations forces into Mexico to kill local drug kingpins.