In his first hours in office, President Donald Trump signed several executive orders outlining plans to designate certain cartels and criminal groups as terrorists, invoke the Alien Enemies Act to remove them, and call on the U.S. military to assist with border security.
The specific details of these plans remain unclear, but former Homeland Security officials and experts caution that labeling cartels and immigrant gangs, such as the Tren de Aragua Venezuelan street gang, as terrorist enemies could empower immigration officials to target individuals from those countries. Additionally, involving military troops in border enforcement could conflict with established rules and practices.
Jerry Robinette, the former head of the San Antonio office of Homeland Security Investigations under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, noted it was too early to determine the exact implications of such designations. However, he acknowledged that broader powers to target not only individuals but also their supporting networks could benefit federal investigators.
“It puts you in a position of advantage to move forward some of your investigations,” Robinette said. “You have a tool that allows you to do things you maybe you couldn’t do before.”
Alien Enemies Act
The 1798 Alien Enemies Act was originally intended as a wartime authority to detain or remove designated enemies, explained Katherine Ebright, counsel in the Brennan Center for Justice’s Liberty and National Security Program. The law was last used during World War II to justify the internment of noncitizens of Japanese, German, and Italian descent, according to the Brennan Center.
President Donald Trump has described using the act to target members of criminal gangs such as Tren de Aragua or the transnational gang MS-13 from El Salvador and Guatemala. However, Ebright noted that if the executive order is written broadly, it could apply to anyone who is not a U.S. citizen—including permanent residents, visa holders, or asylum seekers—from a designated country.
Historically, countries have been named as designated enemies in times of war. For instance, Japanese citizens were labeled enemy aliens following the attack on Pearl Harbor, but members of al-Qaida, a stateless terror group, were not similarly designated after the 9/11 attacks.
This would mark the first time the Alien Enemies Act is applied against a crime gang instead of a nation.
“It’s never been done,” Ebright said.
Impact of designation on cartels as terrorist organization
Michael Brown, a former senior special agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), called the designation of cartels as foreign terrorist organizations a long-overdue step.
“They’re not operating like drug traffickers of the 70s anymore,” said Brown, who served 32 years at the DEA and now works as global director of counternarcotics technology at Rigaku Analytical Devices. “This designation now gives law enforcement and prosecutor’s offices the big hammer they need to really go after not just the cartels, but the domestic groups helping them as well,”USA TODAY quoted Brown.
In the executive order signed Monday night, President Donald Trump did not name any specific cartel, crime group, or drug trafficker. However, the order stated that cartels “had engaged in a campaign of violence” destabilizing the region and flooding the U.S. with dangerous drugs and criminals.
The order formally designates cartels and crime organizations as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) and Specially Designated Global Terrorists.
According to Brown, the new declaration could enhance the U.S. government’s ability to dismantle the fentanyl supply chain, targeting everyone involved—from precursor chemical manufacturers to logistics operators, banks, and street-level dealers—in ways traditional law enforcement efforts cannot.
The FTO designation permits the U.S. government to escalate its actions against cartel traffickers, including potentially using the military or intelligence agencies to conduct drone strikes outside U.S. borders, including in Mexico.
“Theoretically, the president could authorize that strike if we were to see no cooperation from Mexico in the next six months to a year. I don’t think it’s something you would see right away,” Brown said.
He added that Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has shown some willingness to collaborate with the Trump administration in taking a more aggressive stance against the cartels.
“If that was to fail, Trump, then could theoretically authorize that (cross-border) strike, and you wouldn’t need congressional approval, because it’s a terrorist organization,” Brown explained.
The designation could also enable prosecutors to charge U.S.-based accomplices of the cartels with supporting terrorist organizations, resulting in significantly longer prison sentences, Brown noted.
Current military operations on the border
Both the Defense Department and border state governors currently have troops deployed along the U.S.-Mexico border, though the impact of President Donald Trump’s recent actions on these missions remains unclear.
The Pentagon’s federally controlled border mission includes approximately 2,500 Army Reserve and National Guard members mobilized under the president’s authority, a Pentagon spokesperson told USA TODAY. These troops, legally barred from performing law enforcement tasks, provide support to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) through logistics, helicopter operations, data entry, and crossing detection. Their work allows law enforcement agents to focus on duties troops cannot perform, such as patrolling the border and intercepting migrants.
The federal mission began during Trump’s administration in 2018 and at its peak involved around 7,000 troops when active-duty units joined the reservists and Guardsmen.
In addition to the federal mission, thousands of National Guard members are engaged in state-led border enforcement efforts in Texas and Arizona.
Texas’s Operation Lone Star, launched in March 2021 under Governor Greg Abbott, is a state-controlled mission. Unlike federally controlled troops, National Guard members under gubernatorial authority have been making arrests, primarily under state trespassing laws, and performing other law enforcement tasks.
At its height in late 2021, Operation Lone Star involved approximately 10,000 Texas National Guard members. The mission has also included small, short-term contingents from 18 other states, whose governors chose to support Abbott’s immigration policies. However, officials have not disclosed recent figures regarding the mission’s current strength.
The difference from past military deployments at the border
The administrations of George W. Bush and Barack Obama deployed thousands of National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border to support border agents. The Obama administration, according to the Migration Policy Institute, deported more people—over 400,000 annually for three consecutive years—than any other president in history.
During his first term, President Donald Trump also sent National Guard troops to the border. This time, the question is whether these troops will take a more active role in apprehending migrants.
Gil Kerlikowske, Customs and Border Protection commissioner from 2014 to 2017, noted that the agency regularly utilized Armed Forces personnel, including National Guard and active-duty troops, to assist Border Patrol agents. However, their roles were limited to support tasks, such as monitoring cameras or piloting helicopters.
Kerlikowske warned that assigning military troops to apprehend migrants could lead to serious risks.
“You really don’t want an issue of someone using deadly force,” he said. “When you put them in that position, there is that potential.”
Role of the military in immigration enforcement
The role of U.S. troops at the border depends on the legal authority under which they are deployed.
If active-duty troops are given a more direct role, Trump officials would need to address the Posse Comitatus Act, which largely prohibits federal troops from engaging in civilian law enforcement. Reserve troops on full-time federal duty—like those already stationed at the border—are subject to the same restrictions. However, President Donald Trump could invoke the Insurrection Act to grant troops the authority to directly arrest migrants, said Lindsay Cohn, an associate professor of national security affairs at the U.S. Naval War College.
“By invoking the Insurrection Act, there is essentially nothing the military couldn’t participate in,” Cohn explained.
Doris Meissner, senior fellow at the Migration Policy Institute and former Commissioner of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, noted the potential significance of such actions. “What’s being talked about now with the Alien Enemies Act and tapping active military, that is a different form of military assistance,” she said, “and a real escalation.”
In some cases, National Guard members can enforce laws without invoking the Insurrection Act. The defense secretary can fund Guard units for state-controlled “homeland defense” operations.
When Guardsmen are deployed under federally funded state duty, as they were during Trump’s first term, they remain under the control of their governor, according to the Congressional Research Service.
Governors can refuse to deploy troops under this authority. In 2018, a bipartisan group of governors withdrew National Guard troops from the border in protest against the Trump administration’s family separation policies.