Saturday, November 30, 2019

What do al-Qaeda and Mexican Drug Cartels have in Common?


              Al-Qaeda and Mexican drug cartels both are considered foreign terrorist organizations according to President Trump. President Trump on Tuesday said he was in the process of making the cartels considered foreign terrorist organizations according to the United States Government. Mexico is against this idea because they want to work out their internal problems by themselves. Mexican officials are also worried about this designation because of the United State’s past with terrorist organizations. Since 9/11, the United States has had the policy to defeat terrorism no matter where it is at. The current administration has already said they offered the Mexican government the opportunity for the U.S. military to go into Mexico and “clear them out” but they refused this. While it is unlikely that the United States military would go into Mexico with a military force, it is still worrisome to the Mexican people. Just the idea that the United States military could go into Mexico unauthorized is enough for them to be worried. Mexico has stated that if the United States would enter Mexico without their permission, this would go against their sovereignty and they would work within international law.
              If the cartels were to be designated as terrorist organizations that would mean the members of the cartels would not be allowed on US soil and if they were already in the U.S., then they would face deportation. It would also mean that it is illegal to support the groups in any way. This would probably affect people in the United States because over 150,000 firearms were traced from Mexican criminals back to the United States in the form of factories or gun shops. If this were the case, then business owners in the United States would not want to face the legal issues of selling guns to these organizations. This might scale back the number of guns in Mexico.
              The designation of Mexican drug cartels as a terrorist group could have large implications for both the United States and Mexico. However, there could also be little to no impact. Everything depends on how the public and the respective governments act if the designation goes through.


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