Documents › Executive orders › 14157
Executive Order 14157
Designating Cartels and Other Organizations as Foreign Terrorist Organizations and Specially Designated Global Terrorists
Signed January 20, 2025, printed at 90 FR 8439. 3 sections of substance, 892 words.
Some drug gangs cross borders. This order starts a process to name them as terror groups. That label brings tougher legal tools.
Sec. 1. Purpose
This order creates a process by which certain international cartels (the Cartels) and other organizations will be designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations, consistent with section 219 of the INA (8 U.S.C. 1189), or Specially Designated Global Terrorists, consistent with IEEPA (50 U.S.C. 1702) and Executive Order 13224 of September 23, 2001 (Blocking Property and Prohibiting Transactions With Persons Who Commit, Threaten to Commit, or Support Terrorism), as amended. (a) International cartels constitute a national- security threat beyond that posed by traditional organized crime, with activities encompassing: (i) convergence between themselves and a range of extra-hemispheric actors, from designated foreign-terror organizations to antagonistic foreign governments; (ii) complex adaptive systems, characteristic of entities engaged in insurgency and asymmetric warfare; and (iii)
This order creates a process by which certain international cartels (the Cartels) and other organizations will be designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations, consistent with section 219 of the INA (8 U.S.C. 1189), or Specially Designated Global Terrorists, consistent with IEEPA (50 U.S.C. 1702) and Executive Order 13224 of September 23, 2001 (Blocking Property and Prohibiting Transactions With Persons Who Commit, Threaten to Commit, or Support Terrorism), as amended. (a) International cartels constitute a national- security threat beyond that posed by traditional organized crime, with activities encompassing: (i) convergence between themselves and a range of extra-hemispheric actors, from designated foreign-terror organizations to antagonistic foreign governments; (ii) complex adaptive systems, characteristic of entities engaged in insurgency and asymmetric warfare; and (iii)
This sets up a way to name drug cartels as terror groups. Two legal routes are used. One is a law on foreign terror groups. The other is an emergency powers law. It says cartels are more than ordinary crime rings. It says they act like an armed force. It says they link up with hostile states.
Sec. 2. Policy
It is the policy of the United States to ensure the total elimination of these organizations' presence in the United States and their ability to threaten the territory, safety, and security of the United States [[Page 8440]] through their extraterritorial command-and-control structures, thereby protecting the American people and the territorial integrity of the United States.
It is the policy of the United States to ensure the total elimination of these organizations' presence in the United States and their ability to threaten the territory, safety, and security of the United States [[Page 8440]] through their extraterritorial command-and-control structures, thereby protecting the American people and the territorial integrity of the United States.
This states the policy. The named groups must be driven out of this country. Their power to threaten it must end. They run their work from abroad. That reach must be cut off. The stated aim is to protect people here. It is also to protect the country's land.
Sec. 3. Implementation
(a) Within 14 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of State shall take all appropriate action, in consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury, the Attorney General, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and the Director of National Intelligence, to make a recommendation regarding the designation of any cartel or other organization described in section 1 of this order as a Foreign Terrorist Organization consistent with 8 U.S.C. 1189 and/or a Specially Designated Global Terrorist consistent with 50 U.S.C. 1702 and Executive Order 13224. (b) Within 14 days of the date of this order, the Attorney General and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall take all appropriate action, in consultation with the Secretary of State, to make operational preparations regarding the implementation of any decision I make to invoke the Alien Enemies Act, 50 U.S.C. 21 et seq., in relation to the
(a) Within 14 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of State shall take all appropriate action, in consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury, the Attorney General, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and the Director of National Intelligence, to make a recommendation regarding the designation of any cartel or other organization described in section 1 of this order as a Foreign Terrorist Organization consistent with 8 U.S.C. 1189 and/or a Specially Designated Global Terrorist consistent with 50 U.S.C. 1702 and Executive Order 13224. (b) Within 14 days of the date of this order, the Attorney General and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall take all appropriate action, in consultation with the Secretary of State, to make operational preparations regarding the implementation of any decision I make to invoke the Alien Enemies Act, 50 U.S.C. 21 et seq., in relation to the
This sets the steps. Within 14 days State must say which groups to name. It works with Treasury, Justice and two others. Within the same 14 days two agencies must get ready to act. That means being ready if a wartime law is invoked. That law allows removals in time of conflict.
Sec. 4. General Provisions
Every order carries this. It is not what the order does.
(a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect: (i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or (ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals. (b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations. (c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person. <GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT> (Presidential Sig.) THE WHITE HOUSE, January 20, 2025. [FR Doc. 2025-02004 Filed 1-28-25; 11:15 am] Billing code 3395-F4-P </pre></body> </html>
(a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect: (i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or (ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals. (b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations. (c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person. <GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT> (Presidential Sig.) THE WHITE HOUSE, January 20, 2025. [FR Doc. 2025-02004 Filed 1-28-25; 11:15 am] Billing code 3395-F4-P </pre></body> </html>
This is the closing clause that nearly every order carries. It says the order does not change what the law already allows. It also says no one can sue to enforce it.
How this order is quoted
Each section is quoted as the order prints it, under its own number and heading. Executive orders are United States government works and are not under copyright. Long sections are cut at a sentence and the whole order is a click away.