Executive Order 14157 establishes a process to designate international cartels and other transnational criminal organizations as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) or Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs). The order frames these organizations, particularly drug cartels operating near the southern border, as national security threats that exceed traditional organized crime. It characterizes cartels as having converged with foreign terrorist organizations and hostile governments, functioning as complex adaptive systems engaged in asymmetric warfare, and infiltrating foreign governments across the Western Hemisphere. The order declares a national emergency under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to address what it describes as an "unusual and extraordinary threat" to U.S. national security, foreign policy, and economy posed by these organizations.
The directive mandates specific actions within a 14-day timeframe. It requires the Secretary of State, in consultation with the Secretaries of Treasury and Homeland Security, the Attorney General, and the Director of National Intelligence, to recommend appropriate designations of cartels and other organizations as FTOs under Section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act and/or as SDGTs under IEEPA and Executive Order 13224. Additionally, it instructs the Attorney General and Secretary of Homeland Security to prepare for potential invocation of the Alien Enemies Act (50 U.S.C. 21) in response to "any qualifying invasion or predatory incursion against the territory of the United States," including preparing facilities necessary for expedited removal of designated individuals.
The order establishes a policy goal of "total elimination" of these organizations' presence in the United States and their ability to threaten U.S. territory, safety, and security through their "extraterritorial command-and-control structures." Implementation responsibilities are distributed across multiple cabinet departments and intelligence agencies, creating an interagency approach to addressing transnational criminal organizations specifically named in the order, including Mexican cartels, Tren de Aragua (TdA), and La Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13). The order contains standard provisions clarifying that it preserves existing executive department authorities, must be implemented consistent with applicable law and available appropriations, and creates no substantive or procedural rights enforceable at law or equity against the United States.