It seems that one of the reasons, if not the main one, that Trump never designated the Mexican cartels as terrorist organizations was the fear that Mexicans and others could then use the terrorist cartels as an excuse to claim political asylum. Colin Pruett, below, argues that the reverse could be used to keep people out, too.
By designating the cartels as terrorist organizations, all the illegal aliens who pay money to cross the border are thereby supporting a terrorist organization and can be kept out for that very reason.
The law bars entry to the U.S. if an alien has either engaged in terrorist activity or is likely to engage in terrorist activity after entry. As a result of cartel control of the U.S. border, 99 percent of illegal immigrants pay large sums of money to human smuggling organizations for guidance into American territory. Immigrants who refuse cartel guidance are routinely tortured, ransomed, or killed in retaliation. FTO designation would allow U.S. prosecutors discretion to charge illegal immigrants with hardened criminal records with material support of terrorism, drastically increasing sentence lengths and deterrence.
[Are Mexican Cartels Terrorist Organizations? by Collin Pruett, American Conservative, March 9, 2022]
NOW ONLINE: the cover article from the latest issue, @pruett_collin's case for designating the Mexican cartels "Foreign Terrorist Organizations," which would open up a whole new set of tools in the fight to get control of our southern border: https://t.co/HwKMZU2VXL
— Helen Andrews (@herandrews) March 9, 2022
“Material Support“ prosecutions are a regular thing for Federal Law Enforcement, usually involving immigrants:
