This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
President Donald Trump has listed foreign criminal gangs for designation as terrorist organizations, as he promised he would do in his campaign to crack down on illegal drug smuggling and human trafficking through America's borders.
And Department of Government Efficiency Elon Musk made a pointed observation: "That means they're eligible for drone strikes."
The government announcement specifically listed "Tren de Aragua, MS-13, Sinaloa Cartel, Jalisco New Generation Cartel, United Cartels, Northeast Cartel, Gulf Cartel, Michoacán Family."
Fox News reports the list was sent to Congress days ago, and specifically leads off with "Tren de Arague," the Argentine thugs who have been establishing a presence in multiple American cities, including in the Denver metropolitan area where they've been taking over apartment complex management by simply demanding rents from residents and stealing the same from the owners.
The report noted that organization "has ties to the socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro and has been terrorizing U.S. cities in recent months."
The White House verdict is that those criminal gangs "present an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States."
And it cites the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to declare a national emergency to address the threat.
Trump's statement said, "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 through their extraterritorial command-and-control structures, thereby protecting the American people and the territorial integrity of the United States."
Experts explain the designations put the terror groups "at the highest level" of U.S. national security interests, which opens the possibility of investigations and prosecutions regarding their funding or any group helping them.
An analyst said Trump's statement to the gangs is, "We know you're here; we know you're up to no good and we're going to come after you."
