President Trump designated drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations.
Said by Donald Trump, Checked Updated
- Sources
- 2 support
- Said
- 1 time·
- Confidence
- 90%
Badlands MediaOct 15, 2026
During his second term in 2025, President Trump designated specific criminal organizations involved in drug trafficking, such as Tren de Aragua, as Foreign Terrorist Organizations.
What was said
… I didn't go to Congress. Like, remember Joe Biden's Sleepy Joe? "If they would give me approval in Congress." You're not gonna get approval. You just do it. You're the president. Turned out we just needed a new president. That's all we needed. I also designated the drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. We designated fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction, which had a great legal meaning. We passed the largest border security investment in American history, and as a result of our actions, for the past 17 months, think of this, we had it's hard to believe …
Badlands Media · · from the transcriptPost →What we found
Supports. A January 2025 proclamation identified Tren de Aragua (TdA) as a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization.[2]
Supports. In October 2025, the U.S. government reported strikes against vessels operated by 'Designated Terrorist Organizations' involved in drug trafficking.[1]
Context. President Trump has historically compared drug traffickers to international terrorist groups like al Qaeda to justify the use of military force and legal designations.[1]
Sources
2 sources: 1 tier 1, 1 not rated
- 1Assessing the Facts and Legal Questions About the U.S. Strikes on Alleged Drug Boatsfactcheck.org · tier 1 · cited for: supports, context
- 2United States Court of Appeals - FactCheck.org PDFcdn.factcheck.org · not rated · cited for: supports
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