Trump's terrorist label for cartele raises risks of criminal prosecution for companies

Designation could lead to criminal prosecution of American companies for card payments

Legal experts warn the risks for migrants paying cartels for border crossing

Possible civilian claims against those considered to have terrorist design groups, say the specialists

By Luc Cohen

New York, – the designation of US President Donald Trump of drug cartels as terrorist organizations increases the risk of criminal prosecution of American companies operating in certain parts of Latin America and migrants in the United States, legal experts said. On February 19, the State Department designated the Sinaloa Cartel, Aragua train and six other criminal groups in Latin America as global terrorist organizations, part of the republication of the Republican administration on the gangs that it floods the US with drugs and helps migrants to pass illegally. In a memo of February 5 -after Trump has reported the intention to label the cards as terrorist groups, but before being officially done, lawyer General Pam Bondi said the move will allow the prosecutors of the justice department to accuse the card leaders. with terrorism. Six legal experts consulted by Reuters said the designations could also leave American companies and migrants paying cartels to help cross the border, subject to criminal prosecution for the material support of a terrorist group in accordance with the US Criminal Code.

The Department of Justice and the White House did not respond to the comment applications.

To be sure, Reuters could not identify any criminal prosecution of the companies under status in the week since the implementation of the designations. But the former prosecutors said that companies operating in certain parts of Mexico, where many companies reported that they have received applications for protective payments from organized crime groups, could be accused if they will make payments now labeled terrorists. . A 2024 study of the Mexico Mexican Chamber of Commerce from 218 companies showed that 45% received applications for protection payments.

“Companies need to know who they are dealing with and re -evaluate this in the light of these designations,” said Brendan Quigley, former Federal prosecutor in Manhattan and current partner at Baker Bott law firm.

The risk of criminal prosecution also applies to non-American companies with American operations, said Stephen Reynolds, former federal prosecutor and current partner of the Day Pitney. The Department of Justice has accused the big companies in the past of providing material support for the groups that the US government has labeled as terrorists in cases where companies have paid those organizations in order to continue to operate on the territory they controlled. In 2022, the French Cement producer Lafarge said guilty in the US court and agreed to pay $ 778 million in privacy and fines over $ 5.92 million in payments in 2013 and 2014, through the Islamic State and Al Nusra, after the civil conflict broke out.

Lafarge’s payments to groups, US -appointed terrorists, were meant to allow the company’s employees, customers and suppliers to go through control points, allowing them to obtain $ 70 million sales income. Factory that operated on in the north of Syria, prosecutors said. Holcim, Swiss Listat, who purchased Lafarge in 2015, did not respond to a comment request. The company stated in 2022 that the conduct “is in a strong contrast with everything that it means.”

In her memory, Bondi said that the department of the department of justice will focus on cases involving cartels and other transnational criminal groups.

Cartel designation has “huge implications” for American enterprises, given the large volume of trade between the US and Mexico, Central and South America, said Andrew Adams, former federal prosecutor and current partner at Steptoe law firm. Mexico is the largest trade partner of the United States, representing over 15% of the total trade. The US imported more than $ 475 billion of Mexican products in 2023.

Criminal prosecution is not the only risk.

The American law allows the victims of violence by groups designed by terrorism, or relatives of these victims, to file civilian requests in the American courts that have been damaged by anyone who has helped the group, said Carlton Greene, partner at Crowell & Moring law firm and a former official in the departments of justice and treasury. Last year, a jury in Florida ordered the Banani Chiquita International Banana manufacturer to pay $ 38.3 million damages for the families of eight Colombian men killed by a paramilitary group that has been designated a terrorist organization by the US Chiquita appeals the verdict. His lawyers did not respond to a comment request. He said that the paramilitary group threatened the workers and made the payments to keep them safe.

The possibility of more severe sentences

The status of material assistance could also be used to follow migrants who have paid someone related to a cartel to help them smuggen their federal defenders in New York.

“It could be used to really go aggressively after people without documents, especially for things that were not previously taxable,” Dalack said.

The designation allows prosecutors to accuse someone caught moving the drugs of a narcoterrorism card, a crime that has a compulsory 20-year prison sentence, said Defense lawyer in New York, Zachary Margulis-Hnuma.

This is the double of the mandatory minimum of 10 years for possession with the intention to distribute, a common tax in cases of driving drugs.

“It doubles the mandatory minimum for exactly the same conduct,” Margulis-Ohnuma said.

This item was generated from an automatic news agency flow without changes to the text.