Cartel Terrorist Label Could Put Unaware Business Owners Providing Services or Products to Them at Risk

Organized crime experts have criticized President Donald Trump's order to designate multiple Mexican drug cartels as terrorist organizations, arguing that the designation will do little to combat criminal networks. Some have also pointed to an unintended consequence: prosecuting citizens who are unknowingly involved in cartel activity.

"The concern is that this could open the door to both criminal prosecutions and immigration consequences for a wide range of everyday people, organizations, and businesses on both sides of the border that might find themselves inadvertently caught up in the framework of providing material support to terrorist groups," Stephanie Brewer, director for Mexico at the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), told Insight Crime.

Recently, independent Mexican journalist Alfredo Alvarez warned both U.S. and Mexican business owners about the consequences of unknowingly providing products or services to entities linked to the designated drug cartels.

"There are people who rent cars, warehouses, and apartments to them—people who buy real estate or services that are part of their money laundering schemes," he explained. "There are also independent professionals like lawyers or accountants who are especially susceptible."

The journalist also highlighted the expanded investigative and prosecutorial authority granted to U.S. government entities by the terrorist designation.

"When they were just considered drug traffickers, you had to be explicitly involved in their illegal activities to be accused of something as a U.S. citizen," he explained. "Foreign nationals had to be complicitly involved in their technical operations—you couldn't get in trouble for renting them a car, for example."

Alvarez concluded his video report by advising business owners, particularly those who operate transnationally, to research the people they do business with and seek legal advice if they find themselves already serving questionable clients.

"They will monitor cartel expenses—if your business is involved in a transaction that could be interpreted as facilitating the labor of a terrorist group, be careful," he warned. "You will end up on a list, and the immediate consequence might be, at the very least, losing your visa," he said.