Document Type

Report

Publication Date

11-2026

Abstract

Of the groups covered in this series, the Mexican cartels designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations in 2025 and 2026 pose the most direct and persistent threat to U.S. communities. The Iran-aligned network projects its threat through state sponsorship and proxies, Haiti's gangs mainly cause regional instability, and the Balochistan Liberation Army is most focused within the borders of Balochistan. The cartels have none of those geographic or ideological buffers. They operate along the roughly 1,954-mile shared border and inside the United States.  As Dr. Jones notes, they are not terrorist organizations in the classical sense—they don't seek to overthrow the Mexican state, and their senior leaders are deterred from attacking U.S. personnel and infrastructure directly to protect their operational capacity. Their threat to the homeland is less about large-scale attacks and more about the consistent and steady harm caused by networks that move illicit drugs, people, weapons, and money across the border at scale.

Prosecutors have used the new authorities afforded to counter the cartel FTO threat across every level of the network. In February 2026, a superseding indictment charged the alleged Tijuana plaza boss for the Sinaloa Cartel's Mayiza faction with narcoterrorism and material support of terrorism. In September, a 21-year-old alleged Gulf Cartel member from Reynosa was indicted for material support of terrorism for kidnapping, countersurveillance, and disposal of human remains on behalf of the cartel. In October, the engineer behind a CJNG tunnel that ran 1,933 feet from Tijuana to a storefront near the Otay Mesa Port of Entry was also indicted on material support charges.

Accessibility Statement

PDF passed Adobe Accessibility Checker prior to upload. 

Download

Share

COinS