Latest news with #SDGTs
The Hill
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Hill
Mexico: No border enforcement collaboration deal with DEA
Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum on Tuesday said law enforcement officers would not be cross-collaborating with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's (DEA) 'Project Portero' targeting narcotic smugglers. 'The DEA put out a statement yesterday saying that there is an agreement with the Mexican government for an operation called Portero,' Sheinbaum said during her morning news briefing, as reported by The Associated Press. 'There is no agreement with the DEA. The DEA puts out this statement, based on what we don't know. We have not reached any agreement, none of the security institutions [have] with the DEA.' Over the past few months, U.S. officials have touted bilateral relations with Mexico after sending 26 cartel members across the border. Four members of Mexico's police force attended a workshop in Texas geared towards intelligence operations, but Sheinbaum mentioned there were no additional dual efforts to combat drug trafficking. In recent months, President Trump has increased tariffs on Mexico in response to the heightened impact of fentanyl across the country. Trump has blamed Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs), including the Sinaloa Cartel, Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), Northeast Cartel, the New Michoacán Family, Gulf Cartel, United Cartels, Tren de Aragua (TdA), and Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) for the persistent overdoses. Sheinbaum has pledged to work alongside the Trump administration to reduce border trafficking but has denied Trump's push to place U.S. troops on the ground in May to combat criminal forces and additional suggestions for American surveillance. 'It's not necessary. We can collaborate. We can work together,' Sheinbaum said at the time. 'But you in your territory and us in ours. We can share information, but we will never accept the presence of the United States' army in our territory.'
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
How Far Will the Trump Administration Go Against Mexican Drug Cartels?
President Donald Trump promised on the campaign trail that he'd go after Mexico's drug cartels, which he claimed in January "essentially run" that country. Since taking office, he has leaned on militaristic tactics to stop the flow of fentanyl into the U.S., an approach that invites conflict—and plenty of collateral damage. In January, when Fox News asked Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth whether the administration would use the military against cartels, he replied that "all options will be on the table." In February, the State Department designated eight cartels and transnational organizations as foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs) and specially designated global terrorists (SDGTs). Those designations in and of themselves "are not exactly a declaration of war," wrote Reason's Matthew Petti. An FTO designation "bans Americans—or anyone who wants to immigrate to the United States—from providing any kind of 'material support' to a designated terrorist group," while an SDGT designation "allows the U.S. Treasury to seize a group's assets." The "FTO and SDGT lists don't include exemptions for free speech or humanitarian aid," Petti noted. The designations may invite increased scrutiny of remittances to places where the targeted cartels are active. Because the cartels are involved "in mafioso-like protection rackets" throughout Mexico and "many people are forced to pay them off or be killed," the American Immigration Council's Aaron Reichlin-Melnick argued on X, "that could count as material support to terrorism" under U.S. law. Washington has also "stepped up secret drone flights over Mexico to hunt for fentanyl labs," The New York Times reported in February. The surveillance program started under President Joe Biden, and the CIA "has not been authorized to use the drones to take lethal action," the Times continued. But the escalation is "a quick initial step" in the Trump administration's "more intense action against Mexican drug cartels." Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, who has cooperated with the Trump administration on migration policy and the extradition of several cartel leaders, has warned the U.S. against violating Mexico's sovereignty to combat cartels. "The Mexican people will not accept under any circumstances interventions, interference, or any other act from abroad that could be harmful to the integrity, independence, and sovereignty of the nation," she said in February. Such action could "impinge on the constitutional separation of war powers and implicate the War Powers Resolution," warned a February resolution introduced by Reps. Joaquin Castro (D–Texas), Chuy García (D–Ill.), and Nydia Velázquez (D–N.Y.). The resolution "rejects and condemns the use of military force by the United States" against parties in Mexico if carried out without the Mexican government's approval and "an explicit authorization for the use of military force enacted by Congress." An "act of aggression on Mexico's sovereign territory without their consent could be considered an act of war and a violation of international law," it warns. Could the U.S. cross that line? The Trump administration is seemingly "split over how hard to go on Mexican cartels," the Times reported in late February. One camp favors "unilateral military action against cartel figures and infrastructure to stem the flow of drugs across the border," while another is "arguing for increased partnership with the Mexican government to ensure, among other things, continued cooperation on the issue of migration." National security adviser Mike Waltz, who as a congressman in 2023 introduced legislation that would have given the president a blank check to use military force against cartels, vowed in February that the administration would "unleash holy hell" against the groups. Trump took a similar tone on the campaign trail. He promised to "impose a total naval embargo on cartels" and "order the Department of Defense to inflict maximum damage on cartel leadership and operations." Airstrikes against cartels were "absolutely" on the table, he told Fox News in July. Trump may start to realize that these ideas are easier to pitch as a candidate than to carry out as president. Mexico is far less likely to cooperate on the administration's other priorities if it's dealing with uninvited American military force. Even if the administration somehow gets Mexico's buy-in for such action, it will still have to grapple with the domestic fallout of potentially unconstitutional military action and the humanitarian costs it imposes. The post How Far Will the Trump Administration Go Against Mexican Drug Cartels? appeared first on
Forbes
12-04-2025
- Business
- Forbes
New Small Currency Transaction Rules Aimed At Drug Cartels
THE UNITED STATES TREASURY DEPARTMENT SEAL. UNDATED COLOR LITHOGRAPH. The Department of the Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCen) recently enacted a Geographic Targeting Order (GTO) aimed at stopping money laundering by Mexican drug cartels. The new order requires money service businesses located in 30 Zip codes in California and Texas across seven counties along the Mexican border to report and retain records of all transactions of more than $200 as well as verify the identity of the people doing such transactions. The new regulation goes into effect on April 14th and remains in force until September 9, 2025 although it may well be extended. In January, President Trump issued an Executive Order that created a process by which drug cartels could be designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) and/or Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs) following which The Treasury Department and State Department designated six major Mexican drug cartels as FTOs and SDGTs. This designation authorizes the federal government to take further steps to deny people and entities associated with these cartels access to the United States financial system. Transaction reporting requirements created to combat money laundering go back to the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) enacted in 1970 which required banks to report cash transactions over $10,000 as well as identify people conducting those transactions and maintain records of those financial transactions. When the BSA was first passed, it was opposed by the banking industry which sued to have the law declared unconstitutional as a violation of the Fourth Amendment, however the Supreme Court in the case of California Bankers Association vs. Shultz ruled in 1974 that the law did not constitute an unreasonable burden on banks and the requirement of maintaining records of transactions did not constitute a seizure. The low $200 threshold of the new regulation will substantially add to the record keeping for many normal payments going from the U.S. to Mexico. However criminal organizations have long used a technique called 'smurfing' to break down the transmission of large sums into many small dollar transactions to launder illegally obtained funds, particularly those derived from drug trafficking. It is those payments the new regulation is targeting. The goal of the new regulation is to use artificial intelligence to analyze the reports of these small transactions to identify suspicious patterns which, in turn, can be followed up on by law enforcement. Money servicing businesses, as defined by federal law include post offices, check cashers and issuers of travelers checks. According to the new regulation, not only must the money servicing businesses file reports electronically with FinCEN through its BSA E-Filing system within 15 days of the date of the transaction, but they also must verify the identity of the customer, which must be included in the report. The regulation prohibits merely reporting as 'known customer' or 'bank signature card on file.' It is expected that to comply with the new regulation, money servicing services may need to update their present risk assessment practices and training for its customer-facing staff. According to the Center for Strategic & International Studies, a bipartisan think tank, Mexico received $63.3 billion in remittances from outside of Mexico. Remittances, which often are payments from Mexican workers outside of Mexico to their families back in Mexico, were the single largest source of foreign income for Mexico, even more than foreign direct investment according to the Center for Strategic & International Studies. The average remittance transaction to Mexico was approximately $390 in 2022. In announcing the new regulation, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said, 'Today's issuance of the GTO underscores our deep concern with the significant risk to the U.S. financial system of the cartels, drug traffickers and other criminal actors along the Southwest border.'
