The US now considers these cartels and gangs terrorist groups. Here’s what to know about them

Tren de Aragua, MS-13 and the Sinaloa cartel are among the two gangs and six drug cartels the US has officially designated as foreign terrorist organizations, fulfilling a long-standing goal from Donald Trump’s first term in office.

Tren de Aragua, MS-13 and the Sinaloa cartel are among the two gangs and six drug cartels the US has officially designated as foreign terrorist organizations, fulfilling a long-standing goal from US President Donald Trump’s first term in office. Trump previously ordered the US to declare cartels terrorist groups in a January 20 executive order, but until US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s official announcement on Thursday, none of the cartels had been specifically named. During his first term, Trump had considered a similar maneuver but refrained at the request of then-Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. In an order published in the federal government’s Public Register, Rubio named two gangs: Tren de Aragua of Venezuela and MS-13 of El Salvador; and six Mexican drug cartels: Cartel de Sinaloa, Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion, Carteles Unidos, Cartel del Noreste, Cartel del Golfo, and La Nueva Familia Michoacana. They join the ranks of other groups designated as foreign terrorist organizations by the US, including ISIS, Boko Haram, and Hamas. Here’s what you need to know about each of these groups: Tren de Aragua began as a prison gang in Venezuela, according to the US Treasury Department, with much of their criminal enterprise focused “on human smuggling and other illicit acts that target desperate migrants.”