The State Department designates two gangs and six cartels as ‘foreign terrorist organizations’

Elon Musk Claims Cartels Designated as
Terrorists Are ‘Eligible for Drone Strikes’
Dave DeCamp / Antiwar.com

(February 19, 2025) — On Wednesday, Elon Musk claimed a group of gangs and cartels the State Department has designated as “foreign terrorist organizations” could now be targeted by US drone strikes.

“That means they’re eligible for drone strikes,” Musk, a close advisor to President Trump, wrote on X.

The State Department designation applies to MS-13, the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, and six Mexican cartels, all organizations that operate inside the US.

The FTO designations expand sanctions on the criminal organizations but do not authorize the president to use military force against them. But the move is seen as a first step toward taking military action against cartels, an idea supported by many Republicans despite the risks of blowback and bringing a hot war to American soil.

Mexican cartels are already experts in the use of armed drones.

In 2023, House Republicans introduced a bill to authorize the use of force against cartels and other groups “responsible for trafficking fentanyl or a fentanyl-related substance into the United States or carrying out other related activities that cause regional destabilization in the Western Hemisphere.”

The broad authorization for the use of military force (AUMF) had 24 co-sponsors, including then-House Rep. Mike Waltz, who is now President Trump’s national security advisor.

The US still uses the 2001 AUMF passed in the wake of the September 11 attacks to justify wars in multiple countries, bypassing the constitutional requirement for Congress to declare war, which hasn’t happened since World War II.