The United States has revealed the first federal charges against a foreign national for providing material support to one of the criminal groups that President Donald Trump has designated a “foreign terrorist organisation”.
On Friday, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) issued a statement identifying the suspect as 39-year-old Maria Del Rosario Navarro-Sanchez of Mexico.
An unsealed indictment accused Navarro-Sanchez of furnishing the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG), a Mexican drug cartel, with grenades and helping it smuggle migrants, firearms, money and drugs.
“Cartels like CJNG are terrorist groups that wreak havoc in American communities and are responsible for countless lives lost in the United States, Mexico and elsewhere,” US Attorney General Pam Bondi said in the statement.
“This announcement demonstrates the Justice Department’s unwavering commitment to securing our borders and protecting Americans through effective prosecution.”
The charges stem from a decision early in Trump’s second term in office to apply “terrorism” designations to foreign criminal organisations, including gangs and drug cartels.
On his first day back in office, on January 20, Trump signed an executive order declaring that “international cartels constitute a national-security threat beyond that posed by traditional organized crime”. He directed his officials to begin preparations for implementing the “terrorism” designations.
By February 19, the Federal Register in the US listed eight Latin American criminal groups as “foreign terrorist organisations”, among them the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua and the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13).
Mexico’s Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion was also among that initial group of designated organisations.
Since then, the Trump administration has broadened its scope, adding more Latin American groups to the list. On May 2, for instance, two Haitian gangs – Viv Ansanm and Gran Grif – joined the US’s list of foreign terrorist organisations.
These designations are a departure from the usual use of the “foreign terrorist” label, often reserved for organisations that seek specific political aims through their violence.
Critics, however, warn that this application could have unintended consequences, particularly for civilians in vulnerable situations. The “foreign terrorist designation” makes it a crime for anyone to offer material support to a given group, but criminal gangs often extort civilians for money and services as part of their fundraising activities.
“You could accuse anyone – from a migrant who pays a smuggler to a Mexican business that is forced to pay a ‘protection fee’ – of offering material or financial support to a terrorist organisation,” Will Freeman, a fellow for Latin America studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, told Al Jazeera journalist Brian Osgood earlier this year.
In the case unsealed on Friday, it was revealed that Navarro-Sanchez was arrested on May 4. She had two co-defendants, also Mexican citizens, who likewise faced charges of firearms trafficking and other crimes.
The Mexican government had previously confirmed Navarro-Sanchez’s arrest. A statement ICE released to the media showed multiple firearms and packages of meth and fentanyl allegedly linked to the case.
It also included a photo of a golden AR-15 gun known as “El Dorado” that was reportedly “recovered from Navarro-Sanchez’s possession during her arrest in Mexico”.
“Supplying grenades to a designated terrorist organisation – while trafficking firearms, narcotics, and human beings – is not just criminal,” said ICE’s acting Director Todd Lyons. “It’s a direct assault on the security of the United States.”
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