Trump's Plan to Tackle Transnational Organized Crime Provides Bluster, No Substance James Bargent - InSight Crime
go to original February 15, 2017

Donald Trump has targeted organized crime and drug cartels in a new executive order, but beyond the tough talk and bluster there is little to suggest the new US president has any serious strategy to tackle Latin America's "bad hombres."

On February 9, Trump signed three law and order executive orders, one aimed at anti-police violence, another ordering the creation of an anti-crime task force and one targeting transnational organized crime and trafficking.

The order for the task force included requirements for the unit to develop strategies for tackling drug trafficking and illegal immigration, but the most relevant of the executive missives for organized crime in the Americas was the order entitled "Presidential Executive Order on Enforcing Federal Law with Respect to Transnational Criminal Organizations and Preventing International Trafficking."

According to the document, "Transnational criminal organizations and subsidiary organizations, including transnational drug cartels, have spread throughout the Nation, threatening the safety of the United States and its citizens." To tackle this issue, it states, "A comprehensive and decisive approach is required to dismantle these organized crime syndicates and restore safety for the American people."

In the policy section of the order, Trump calls for the strengthening of federal law enforcement, the prioritization of efforts to tackle transnational organized crime, the improvement of coordination between law enforcement institutions both internally and internationally, and for the government to make additional efforts to hamper organized crime, such as through the prosecution of "ancillary criminal offenses" like immigration and visa fraud. The president charged the Threat Mitigation Working Group - an inter-agency body established by the Barack Obama administration - with implementing this policy.

At the signing ceremony, Trump said the order was designed to "break the back of the criminal cartels that have spread across our nation and are destroying the blood of our youth and other people."

"Today's ceremony should be seen as a clear message to the gang members and drug dealers terrorizing innocent people. Your day is over," Trump said. "A new era of justice begins, and it begins right now."

Read the rest at InSight Crime

Related: Trump’s Baptism of Fire: New President Hit with Setback After Setback (Agence France-Presse)

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