HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES STAFF FINAL BILL ANALYSIS
BILL #: HM 7065 PCB JDC 24-02 Designation of Drug Cartels as Foreign Terrorist
Organizations
SPONSOR(S): Judiciary Committee, Giallombardo and others
TIED BILLS: IDEN./SIM. BILLS: SM 1020
FINAL HOUSE FLOOR ACTION: N/A Y’s N/A N’s GOVERNOR’S ACTION: N/A
SUMMARY ANALYSIS
HM 7065 passed the House on February 21, 2024, as SM 1020.
Drug cartels – sometimes referred to as transnational crime organizations – are defined by the United States
Department of Justice, as:
Large, highly sophisticated organizations composed of multiple drug trafficking organizations
(DTOs) and cells with specific assignments such as drug transportation, security and
enforcement, or money laundering. Drug cartel command-and-control structures are based
outside the United States; however, they produce, transport, and distribute illicit drugs
domestically with the assistance of DTOs that are either a part of or in an alliance with the cartel.
Section 1189 of the Immigration and Nationality Act authorizes the United States Secretary of State to
designate an organization as a foreign terrorist organization if the Secretary finds that:
The organization is a foreign organization.
The organization engages in terrorist activity, or retains the capability and intent to engage in terrorist
activity or terrorism.
The terrorist activity or terrorism of the organization threatens the security of United States nationals or
the national security of the United States.
On February 8, 2023, 21 Attorneys General, including Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, sent a letter to
President Biden and Secretary Antony Blinken calling on them to designate the Sinaloa Cartel, the Cartel
Jalisco Nueva Generación, and other similarly situated cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. Subsequently,
in March 2023, Secretary Antony Blinken stated in a United States Senate hearing that the Department would
consider designating Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations.
The memorial asserts that drug cartels are responsible for the export and distribution to the United States of
wholesale amounts of fentanyl, methamphetamine, heroin, cocaine, and other illicit substances, which has
caused tens of thousands of drug-related overdoses and deaths in this country. Additionally, the memorial
indicates that in federal fiscal year 2023, the United States Customs and Border Protection seized 27,000
pounds of fentanyl and millions of fentanyl pills, which is enough to kill every American several times over, and
that this amount only represents 10 to 15 percent of the fentanyl actually sent across the border into the United
States each year.
The memorial further declares that drug cartels meet the criteria to be designated as foreign terrorist
organizations.
The memorial is directed to the United States Department of State urging the United States Secretary of State
to designate drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, so that appropriate means may be initiated to
mitigate and, eventually, eliminate their operations.
The Memorial is not subject to the Governor’s veto powers.
This document does not reflect the intent or official position of the bill sponsor or House of Representatives .
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I. SUBSTANTIVE INFORMATION
A. EFFECT OF CHANGES:
Background
United States Customs and Border Protection
Immigration
The Federal Government establishes and enforces immigration laws. The federal Immigration and
Nationality Act (INA) contains many of the most important provisions of immigration law. 1
The Department of Homeland Security, the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement,
Enforcement and Removal Operations, is responsible for enforcing the immigration laws and
identifying, apprehending, and removing aliens who are a risk to national security or public safety, who
are in the country illegally, or who undermine the integrity of the country’s immigration laws or border
control efforts.2
The United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is the federal law enforcement agency
responsible for securing the nation’s borders and facilitating international travel and trade. The CBP’s
top priority is to keep terrorists and their weapons from entering the United States.
In federal fiscal year (FFY) 2023,3 the total enforcement actions of the Office of Field Operations (OFO)
and the U.S. Border Patrol (USBP)4 were 1,137,452, and are 354,753 to date in FFY 2024, including
apprehensions, inadmissibles, and expulsions.5, 6
Criminal noncitizens 7 encountered at the United States borders are a subset of the total inadmissibles
encountered and USBP arrests of criminal noncitizens are a subset of total apprehensions. Encounters
with criminal noncitizens for the past five years at all land borders were: 8
FFY 2020 FFY 2021 FFY 2022 FFY 2023 FFY 2024
(to date)
7,009 6,567 16,993 20,166 4,805
Drug Seizures
1 8 U.S.C. §§ 1101-1778.
2
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Enforcement and Removal Operations, Mission, https://www.ice.gov/ero (last visited
Feb. 26, 2024).
3 The federal fiscal year runs October 1 – September 30.
4 Both are federal law enforcement agencies under CBP.
5 CBP, CBP Enforcement Statistics Fiscal Year 2023, https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/cbp-enforcement-statistics (last visited Feb.
26, 2024).
6 These figures include both Title 8 enforcement actions and Title 42 expulsions. Title 8 enforcement actions include apprehensions or
inadmissibles. Inadmissibles refers to individuals encountered at ports of entry who are seeking la wful admission into the U.S. but are
determined to be inadmissible, individuals presenting themselves to seek humanitarian protection under our laws, and individu als who
withdraw an application for admission and return to their countries of origin within a short timeframe. Apprehensions refers to the
physical control or temporary detainment of a person who is not lawfully in the U.S. which may or may not result in an arrest . Title 42
expulsions refers to individuals encountered by USBP or OFO and expelled to the country of last transit or home country in the interest
of public health. CBP, Nationwide Enforcement Encounters: Title 8 Enforcement Actions and Title 42 Expulsions Fiscal Year 2023 ,
https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/cbp-enforcement-statistics/title-8-and-title-42-statistics (last visited Feb. 26, 2024).
7 “Criminal noncitizens” refers to noncitizens who have been convicted of a crime, whether in the U.S. or abroad, so long as th e
conviction is for conduct which is deemed criminal in the United States. CBP, CBP Enforcement Statistics Fiscal Year 2023,
https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/cbp-enforcement-statistics (last visited Feb. 26, 2024).
8 CBP, supra at note 5.
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OFO and USBP reported the following drug seizure statistics for the past four years: 9
FFY 2021 FFY 2022 FFY 2023 FFY 2024
(to date)
Drug Seizure 82,946 62,465 53,538 12,677
Events
Drug Seizure 913,000 656,000 549,000 116,000
Weight (lbs)
Additionally, of the total weight of drugs seized, methamphetamine, cocaine, and fentanyl accounted for
248,000 pounds of the total weight in FFY 2023 and 57,500 pounds of the total weight in FFY 2024 to
date,10 which is almost 50 percent of the total seizure weight each year.
Most of these seizures are not large scale, but rather consistent seizures of between five and ten
kilograms (11 to 22 pounds) from individuals crossing the border on a constant basis.11
Drug Cartels
Drug cartels – sometimes referred to as transnational crime organizations (TCOs) 12 – are defined by
the United States Department of Justice (DOJ), as:
Large, highly sophisticated organizations composed of multiple drug trafficking
organizations (DTOs) and cells with specific assignments such as drug transportation,
security and enforcement, or money laundering. Drug cartel command-and-control
structures are based outside the United States; however, they produce, transport, and
distribute illicit drugs domestically with the assistance of DTOs that are either a part of or
in an alliance with the cartel.13
In its 2020 National Drug Threat Assessment, the United States Drug Enforcement Administration
identified the nine Mexican TCOs having the greatest drug trafficking impact on the United States,
including the:
Sinaloa Cartel.
Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG).
Beltran-Leyva Organization.
Cartel del Noreste and Los Zetas.
Guerreros Unidos.
Gulf Cartel.
Juarez Cartel and La Linea.
9 CBP, Drug Seizure Statistics, https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/drug-seizure-statistics (last visited Feb. 26, 2024).
10
Id.
11 NPR, Joel Rose, Who is sneaking fentanyl across the southern b order? Hint: it’s not the migrants, Aug. 9, 2023,
https://www.npr.org/2023/08/09/1191638114/fentanyl-smuggling-migrants-mexico-border-drugs (last visited Feb. 26, 2024).
12 “Organized crime has been defined as ‘illegal activities, conducted by groups or networks acting in concert by engaging in violence,
corruption or related activities in order to obtain, directly or indirectly, a financial or material benefit.’ Transnational organized crime
occurs when these activities, or these groups or networks, operate in two or more countries.” Transnational crime organizations engage
in a broad range of criminal activities, including, but not limited to, drug and weapons trafficking, human smuggling, human trafficking,
cybercrime, and money laundering, generating an estimated revenue of between $1.6 trillion and $2.2 trillion annually. Dr. Marina
Caparini, Transnational organized crime A threat to glob al public goods, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sept. 2,
2022), https://www.sipri.org/commentary/topical-backgrounder/2022/transnational-organized-crime-threat-global-public-goods (last
visited Feb. 26, 2024); Executive Order 14060, Establishing the United States Council on Transnational Organized Crime, 86 Fed. Reg.
71793 (Dec. 15, 2021).; See The White House, FACT SHEET: The Biden Administration Launches New Efforts to Counter
Transnational Criminal Organizations and Illicit Drugs, https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/12/15/fact-
sheet-the-biden-administration-launches-new-efforts-to-counter-transnational-criminal-organizations-and-illicit-drugs/ (last visited Feb.
26, 2024) and Channing Mavrellis, Transnational Crime and the Developing World, Global Financial Integrity (Mar. 27, 2017),
https://gfintegrity.org/report/transnational-crime-and-the-developing-world/ (last visited Feb. 26, 2024).
13 United States Department of Justice, National Drug Intelligence Center, National Drug Threat Assessment 2010, Drug Trafficking
Organizations, https://www.justice.gov/archive/ndic/pubs38/38661/dtos.htm (last visited Feb. 26, 2024).
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La Familia Michoacána.
Los Rojos.14
Mexican TCOs take in between $19 billion and $29 billion annually from drug sales in the United
States.15
Mexican TCOs use a wide range of smuggling techniques to move drugs into the United States
including via:
Commercial and passenger vehicles with concealed compartments or commingled with
legitimate goods.
Underground tunnels that originate in Mexico and end in safe houses in the United States.
Commercial cargo trains, passenger buses, and maritime vessels.
Backpackers and couriers, also known as drug mules.
Airdrops.16
“These TCOs expand their criminal influence by engaging in business alliances with other
organizations, including independent DTOs, and working in conjunction with transnational gangs,
United States-based street gangs, prison gangs, and Asian money laundering organizations.” 17
Additionally, TCOs have increasingly engaged in violence for political purposes and to intimidate
uncooperative government officials and the general public. 18
Moreover, TCOs strive to increase profits and market control through diversification. TCOs often use
the same routes for drug trafficking for different illicit activities including human, weapons, and wildlife
trafficking.19 For instance, TCOs use trafficked women and children to smuggle drugs across the
border, doubling up on the money they can make from these victims. 20 TCOs use drugs both as a lure
to recruit people who have a substance abuse disorder and as a means to assert control over their
victims.21
March 2023 Abduction of Americans by Gulf Drug Cartel
14 United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), 2020 National Drug Threat Assessment, p. 66,
https://www.dea.gov/sites/default/files/2021-02/DIR-008-21%202020%20National%20Drug%20Threat%20Assessment_WEB.pdf (last
visited Feb. 26, 2024).
15 CNN, Mexico Drug War Fast Facts, https://www.cnn.com/2013/09/02/world/americas/mexico-drug-war-fast-facts/index.html (last
visited Feb. 26, 2024).
16 DEA, supra at 14, p. 69.
17 DEA, supra at note 14, at p. 65.
18 Center for Security Policy, Kyle Shideler, Decision Brief: A new designation to address the growing threat from cartels, Oct. 20, 2023,
https://centerforsecuritypolicy.org/decision-brief-a-new-designation-to-address-the-growing-threat-from-cartels/ (last visited Feb. 26,
2024).
19
Interpol, Drug trafficking, https://www.interpol.int/en/Crimes/Drug-trafficking (last visited Feb. 26, 2024).
20 DEA, Jarod Forget, Special Agent in Charge, Washington D.C. Division, Violent drug organizations use human trafficking to expand
profits, Jan. 28, 2021, https://www.dea.gov/stories/2021/2021-01/2021-01-28/violent-drug-organizations-use-human-trafficking-expand-
profits (last visited Feb. 26, 2024).
21 Id.
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In March 2023, four Americans traveling in Matamoros, 22 Mexico came under fire and were kidnapped
by the Gulf drug cartel that likely mistakenly misidentified the Americans as Haitian drug smugglers. 23
Two of the Americans were killed and while the other two survived, one suffered several gunshot
wounds.24 The incident highlights the ongoing violence in some Mexican cities that are wracked by
conflict and violence due to drug trafficking and territorial disputes between drug cartels.25
Foreign Terrorist Organizations
Section 1189 of the INA26 authorizes the United States Secretary of State (Secretary) to designate an
organization as a foreign terrorist organization if the Secretary finds that:
The organization is a foreign organization.
The organization engages in terrorist activity,27 or retains the capability and intent to engage in
terrorist activity or terrorism.28
The terrorist activity or terrorism of the organization threatens the security of United States
nationals or the national security of the United States.
Upon proper notification by the Secretary, the Secretary of the Treasury may require United States
financial institutions possessing or controlling any assets of any foreign terrorist organization to block all
financial transactions involving those assets until further directive from either the Secretary of the
Treasury, Act of Congress, or order of court.29
Effects of Designation
The United States Department of State (Department) asserts that designating an organization as a
foreign terrorist organization:
Supports the Department’s efforts to curb terrorism financing and to encourage other nations to
do the same.
Stigmatizes and isolates designated terrorist organizations internationally.
Deters donations or contributions to and economic transactions with named organizations.
Heightens public awareness and knowledge of terrorist organizations.
Signals to other governments our concern about named organizations. 30
Specifically, such a designation has legal ramifications for both the organizations and individuals who
are members of such organizations. Section 2339B of Title 18, U.S.C.A., prohibits a person from
knowingly providing, or attempting or conspiring to provide, material support or resources to a foreign
22
Matamoros is located just across the Rio Grande from Brownsville, Texas. CNN, 4 US citizens were kidnapped by gunmen in Mexico
in case of mistaken identity, US official says, https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/06/americas/fbi-mexico-kidnapping-us-citizens/index.html
(last visited Feb. 26, 2024).
23 Id.
24
CNN, 2 Americans kidnapped in Mexico found dead and 2 found alive,