Trump Administration Tells Congress It Plans to Label Haitian Gangs as Foreign Terror Organizations

The Trump administration has told Congress that it intends to designate Haitian gangs as foreign terrorist organizations, people familiar with the notification told The Associated Press.

The State Department similarly labeled eight Latin American crime organizations in February as it ratcheted up pressure on cartels operating in the U.S. and anyone assisting them. The new move indicates that the administration plans to put similar pressure on gangs from Haiti. The designation carries with it sanctions and penalties for anyone providing “material support” for the group.

It comes after a series of steps against the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, which was designated a foreign terror organization and then dubbed an invading force under an 18th-century wartime law to justify the deportation of Venezuelan migrants to a notorious El Salvador prison under President Donald Trump’s sweeping immigration crackdown.

That invocation of the Alien Enemies Act is significant because it gives the president wide powers to imprison and deport noncitizens who otherwise would have the right to ask for asylum in the U.S. or have their cases heard in immigration courts.

Trump, at a rally in Michigan on Tuesday, touted his designation of the six Latin American crime groups as foreign terrorist organizations, including MS-13 and Tren de Aragua.

“They’ve been designated the highest level of terrorist, and that lets us do a lot of things that you wouldn’t be able to do,” Trump said.

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According to the notification sent to congressional committees on April 23, the Trump administration said it intends to designate the Haitian gangs Viv Ansanm and Gran Grif as foreign terrorist organizations, according to two people familiar with the message, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details that have not yet been made public.

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The designation follows a Trump administration move in February to nix protections that shielded half a million Haitians from deportation.

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The foreign terrorist organization label has typically been reserved for groups like al-Qaida or the Islamic State group, but applying it to Haitian gangs means that the Trump White House is expanding the longstanding U.S. definition of foreign terrorism.

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Gangs control at least 85% of Haiti’s capital, with Viv Ansanm attacking once peaceful communities in recent weeks in a bid to control even more territory.

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