A federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., returned indictments against two high-ranking leaders of the United Cartels of Michoacan, Mexico, on charges of drug trafficking and terrorism on Sept. 4.
The terrorism charges against cartel leadership represent an expansion of the legal theories being applied under the administration’s designation of cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations.
The indictment is among the first to charge senior cartel figures with terrorism in addition to narcotics offenses, according to ICE Homeland Security Investigations. The investigation was led by HSI’s Knoxville, Tenn., office.
The United Cartels of Michoacan is among the most violent and powerful transnational criminal organizations operating along the U.S.-Mexico border, responsible for trafficking fentanyl, methamphetamine and other drugs into the United States.
For American communities affected by the fentanyl crisis, which killed more than 70,000 people in the most recent year of available data, the terrorism charges reflect a more aggressive legal framework for prosecuting the organizations responsible for the drug supply.
Charging cartel leaders with terrorism rather than solely drug trafficking carries significantly harsher potential penalties and opens additional investigative and asset-seizure tools for federal prosecutors.
The Foreign Terrorist Organization designation, which the administration applied to several Mexican cartels, provides the legal basis for the terrorism charges. The designation allows the government to use counterterrorism statutes originally designed for groups like al-Qaida and the Islamic State against drug trafficking organizations.
The indictment was unsealed Sept. 4. The two defendants remain at large in Mexico, according to ICE.