President Donald Trump promised on Saturday that cartel members in the United States would be “hunted down” and removed from the country.

Trump spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference and referred to cartel members as “savage monsters” that his government will pursue and expel from the United States.

“Their members and leaders in the United States will be hunted down – I’m talking about MS-13, they’re hunting them down. We removed tens of thousands MS-13, Tren de Aragua – rooted out, arrested, and expelled from our soil like the savage monsters that they are,” Trump said.

.@POTUS: MS-13 and Tren de Aragua members in the United States "will be hunted down… rooted out, arrested and expelled from our soil like the savage monsters that they are." pic.twitter.com/SXXvJyJV1x

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) February 22, 2025

Criminal gangs from south of the U.S. border have gained increased influence in the United States in recent years. Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua’s rise in the United States coincided with an unprecedented illegal immigration crisis that surged into the U.S. during the Biden administration.

On Thursday, the Department of State designated eight international criminal gangs, including MS-13 and Tren de Aragua, as foreign terrorist organizations and specially designated global terrorists.

“The intent of designating these cartels and transnational organizations as terrorists is to protect our nation, the American people, and our hemisphere. That means stopping the campaigns of violence and terror by these vicious groups both in the United States and internationally. These designations provide law enforcement additional tools to stop these groups,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement.

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The designation fulfilled a longtime goal of Trump’s, who began to pursue terrorist designations against cartels during his first administration.

In addition to MS-13 and Tren de Aragua, the other cartels listed under the State Department designation are the Sinaloa Cartel, Jalisco New Generation Cartel, Cartel of the Northeast, La Nueva Familia Michoacana, Gulf Cartel, and Cárteles Unidos.

The designations sprang from a January order by President Trump to list such organizations as terror groups.

“The Cartels’ activities threaten the safety of the American people, the security of the United States, and the stability of the international order in the Western Hemisphere,” the order says. “Their activities, proximity to, and incursions into the physical territory of the United States pose an unacceptable national security risk to the United States.”