Federal officials on the southern border say the president’s designation of cartels as terrorist organizations put more teeth in gun trafficking enforcement.
Federal law enforcement officials along the U.S. Southern Border warned U.S. citizens that the Trump administration has added a new wrinkle to the crime of trafficking guns and cash into Mexico.
They said the Trump administration’s designation of Mexican Cartels as international terrorist organizations doesn’t just impact how the U.S. government deals with cartel and gang members from other countries.
Timothy Courchaine, interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona, said instructions from the White House and the Department of Justice are unequivocal. His office will pursue terrorism charges against those who traffic guns to terrorist organizations because the security of Americans is at stake.
This includes U.S. citizens doing business with the cartels, he said.
“The mission here is a no-fail mission,” Courchaine said.
“There will be no mercy for those charges, because the cartels and foreign terrorist organizations have no mercy for others.”
Guadalupe Ramirez Jr., director of field operations for the Customs and Border Patrol field office in Nogales, said that anyone who does business with one of the designated terrorist organizations is involved in a “direct act of terrorism.”
He and representatives of Homeland Security Investigations, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, and the U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona hosted a press conference at the Mariposa Port of Entry at Nogales, Arizona, on May 2.
They pointed out that one of President Donald Trump’s first actions in his second term was to designate certain cartels and other criminal groups as global terrorist organizations. The executive order invokes a previous executive order from the Bush administration.
Executive Order 13224, signed by President George W. Bush 10 days after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, authorizes the government to prosecute and seize the assets of anyone offering support to a terrorist organization.
“Engaging in weapons trafficking, particularly to support designated foreign terrorist organizations, comes with severe legal consequences, including terrorism-related charges with long sentences, financial penalties,” Ramirez said.
The officials said that, as a rule, drugs and people are trafficked north across the border into the United States. Money, guns, and ammunition are smuggled south into Mexico.
Ramirez said federal law enforcement officers have intensified efforts to stop the southbound contraband. While hard figures from the first 100 days of Trump’s second term were not available, Ramirez said those efforts have made an impact.
Brendan Iber, special agent in charge of the ATF’s Phoenix Field Division, agreed.
He referred to a May 2 ATF statement that the Department of Justice had prevented 9,700 guns from falling into the hands of criminals since Jan. 20.
According to the statement, between Jan. 20 and May 1, nationwide ATF agents seized 10,592 firearms, 655,388 rounds of ammunition, 8,722 firearm parts, and 6,335 assorted explosives. This was the result of 8,501 violent crime investigations that netted 1,912 arrests.
Iber said things have changed since the statement was released.
“Since the announcement from Attorney General Bondi, earlier in the week, of the 9,700 firearms, I will tell you [based on figures] here in Arizona alone, that number is now up to 11,000,” Iber said.
According to Iber, many of the seized guns were heading south as the result of so-called “straw purchases.” A straw purchase occurs when a person who can legally buy and own firearms purchases a gun for a person who is prohibited from owning firearms.
According to the Customs and Border Patrol website, there were 84 seizures of weapons and ammunition along the southern border last January. That figure dropped to 24 in February, then rose to 49 in March of this year.
Straw purchasers buy guns, ammunition, and other items legally, then illegally sell them to the cartels. The contraband weapons and accessories are then smuggled into Mexico.
Under the 2022 Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, a person convicted of making a straw purchase faces up to 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. That sentence increases to 25 years if the gun is used in a felony, an act of terrorism, or drug trafficking.
Iber said the Mexican cartels prefer large-caliber semiautomatic weapons that they can convert to fully automatic firearms once they are in Mexico.
In addition to other federal agencies, Iber credited federally licensed firearms dealers and U.S. citizens with helping stop straw purchases.
“We get so much information from great citizens just speaking out, notifying us when suspected criminal activity is happening,” Iber said.