Cartel FTO Litigation: The Shape of Things to Come

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Mar 28 2025

Weeks after the U.S. Department of State’s designation of a group of drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs), private plaintiffs filed the first civil lawsuit in a U.S. court leveraging that designation to bring Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) claims.Download the Spanish version of this blog post here.

[1] Camarena v. Caro-Quintero, Case No. 25-cv-651 (S.D. Cal. Mar. 20, 2025).

[2] Last month, President Claudia Sheinbaum warned U.S. gunmakers that Mexico may use FTO designations to amend its lawsuit in the United States against U.S. gun manufacturers and vendors to include claims of aiding and abetting terrorism. See CBS News, Mexico’s President Takes Aim at U.S. Gunmakers if Cartels are Designated as Terrorist Groups (Feb. 14, 2025, 12:03 PM), https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mexico-president-us-gunmakers-legal-action-cartels-designated-terrorist-groups/.