On February 20th, the Trump administration announced a new list of terrorist organizations. In the process, they did not consult with the Mexican government regarding the cartels.
Included were gang organizations like Tren de Aragua, a small Venezuelan gang, and La Mara Salvatrucha from El Salvador. Venezuelans voted in great numbers for Trump and are now shocked by how he talks about them and the illegal deportations.
They stretched their minds to include these two gangs in order to satisfy Trump and his racist staff, continuing to sow fear about those coming to our southern border.
There are many other gangs in the U.S., including Mexican, Asian, Russian, Armenian, and African American gangs, among others, that are never mentioned. The individuals responsible for this list of terrorist organizations are not the most competent the U.S. has to offer.
Immigrant families come seeking a better future, free from political, economic, and climate-related conditions. There is no evidence that this constitutes an invasion. Several years ago, FOX News falsely claimed that MS-13 members were crossing the border with rocket launchers on their backs. This was as absurd as the rumor that Haitians were eating dogs and cats.
Terrorism is the calculated use of violence to create a general climate of fear in a population and thereby achieve a specific political objective. There is no evidence that the two gangs mentioned in this list meet that definition.
It is very telling that they did not mention the Proud Boys, who assaulted the Capitol and beat police officers with poles bearing the U.S. flag.
Have you ever heard of either of the two gangs committing an act like that? Today, Trump supporters are making threatening calls to anyone who disagrees with Trump. Politicians—and now judges—are being targeted for violence.
Neither of these two gang organizations has carried out a mass shooting at a school or a place of worship, yet a pharmaceutical company has taken lives and, along the way has destroyed American society. It is against them that we should take decisive action.
According to The New Yorker, Purdue Pharma played a «special role» in the opioid crisis because the company «was the first to set out, in the nineteen-nineties, to persuade the American medical establishment that strong opioids should be much more widely prescribed—and that physicians’ longstanding fears about the addictive nature of such drugs were overblown.» And if we want to talk about drugs, how about the Sackler family?
The opioid crisis has taken the lives of many and torn families apart, while the Sackler family has only grown richer.
If the sale of drugs is such a critical issue, the government should establish a special prison committee to investigate which Customs and Border Protection employees are being paid to allow drugs into the country. Some have suggested that if Homeland Security offered a million-dollar reward for each piece of information leading to an arrest and conviction, hundreds of employees would turn into their corrupt colleagues.
In American prisons, any drug is available if you have enough money. If they cannot keep drugs out of prisons, how can we believe they can stop them at the border?
Here is the list of cartels designated as terrorist organizations on February 20: Cartel de Sinaloa, Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG), Cartel del Noreste, La Nueva Familia Michoacana, Cartel del Golfo (Gulf Cartel), Carteles Unidos, Tren de Aragua (a small organization), La Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13).
There have been more dangerous organizations within the U.S. than the two gangs included in this list. The opioid lawsuits against corporate entities have exposed contradictions in the policies being created. Today, young people are at risk of being arrested and deported simply for having tattoos—even when they are not gang-related. While some may have gang tattoos, they have no criminal record and should not be targeted. Yet, any youth with a tattoo is now a target for arrest and deportation, even if they are not criminals.
In 2019, a lawsuit filed in the Southern District of New York included more than 500 counties, cities, and Native American tribes. It named eight family members: Richard, Jonathan, Mortimer, Kathe, David, Beverly, Theresa, and Ilene Sackler Lefcourt. Additionally, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Utah brought separate lawsuits against the Sackler family. At the federal level, they faced an overall bundle of 1,600 cases.
Today, the FBI is investigating protests and the destruction of Tesla vehicles and charging stations as acts of domestic terrorism. If these acts receive that designation, authorities will be able to track and arrest protesters. However, it should be noted that Elon’s attacks on government programs and workers are, in fact, a good example of domestic terrorism, as they are tearing apart the very fabric of our Constitution.
We must not fall into the Trump trap again, which has us looking in the wrong direction while they damage our democracy. As citizens, we must stay informed and take the necessary action.
