Trump’s acting AG vows foreign terrorism charges for American street gangs
Interim U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche said Wednesday that federal prosecutors intend to pursue terrorism charges against members of American street gangs as an extension of President Donald Trump’s move last year to designate foreign drug cartels as terrorist organizations.
Blanche told attendees at the 2026 Border Security Expo in Phoenix that federal prosecutors intend to use the foreign terrorist organization designation against more than just transnational criminal organizations. Specifically, he said DOJ is planning to use it against street gangs based in the United States and “lump them in” with international drug cartels.
The targets of that new designation will be “local street gangs that are either around a housing project or a city block” that are only loosely affiliated with larger street gangs like the Bloods, the Crips or the Latin Kings. Those local gangs, Blanche said, are “doing just as much damage” as the interstate gangs but aren’t facing harsh enough criminal penalties for violence and drug dealing.
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“So, what we are trying to do is lump them in with the FTOs, the foreign terrorist organization,” he said. “If a (local) Blood sect is getting its cocaine one step removed from an FTO, we can charge them with being part of a foreign terrorist organization with just a little bit of investigative work.”
That designation allows for further cooperation between local and federal law enforcement agencies, as well as the military. And it comes with enhanced criminal penalties and sentencing.
“So, if you wanna be a member of a gang or an individual selling cocaine in Charlotte, North Carolina, enjoy yourself. But if we catch you and you have a gun, then you’re probably going to disappear to Ohio for the next 20 years,” Blanche said. “And that is the message I hope these clowns hear… It is a goal to also link those gangs to FTOs or declare them (domestic terror organizations).”
Blanche, who previously worked as a private attorney for Trump, has taken on the role of attorney general after the resignation of Pam Bondi. Before that, he was one of Bondi’s top deputies; during his time at DOJ, he has been aggressive on issues surrounding immigration, including ordering the arrest of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka after he and three Democrats attempted to conduct an unscheduled oversight visit at a detention facility.
He applauded the administration for designating cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, which he said has allowed the Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security and other agencies more leeway and tools when going after drug traffickers. He also celebrated the deadly military strikes against boats in the Caribbean Sea.
“We were treating these guys like ordinary criminals and not like the terrorists they are,” Blanche said of the designation.
“For the first time in our history, we are treating them like terrorists and we are blowing them up,” Blanche added. The arguably illegal boat strikes conducted by the Trump administration have resulted in the deaths of at least 170 people.
He also boasted about the work DOJ has done to enact Trump’s mass deportation agenda.
“We had every agent available working on illegal immigration and Title 8 authorities,” Blanche said of the past year, adding that agents from the FBI, Drug Enforcement Agency and U.S. Marshals have been working on immigration efforts.
According to reporting by The Intercept, a quarter of the FBI’s staff has been redirected from pursuing criminals to helping enforce civil violations of federal immigration law.
Blanche said that DOJ has been prosecuting a large number of immigration-related cases, claiming that a “district in Texas” has seen more than 20,000 in the past year.
And he said that prosecutors will pursue cases against “rioters” who “touch” law enforcement. Likewise, he said, any undocumented immigrants who do will face prosecution, adding that DOJ will make sure that “no one can touch you without the full wrath of the federal government.”
Much like Trump’s “border czar” Tom Homan on Tuesday, Blanche also shot sharp criticism at so-called “sanctuary cities” that seek to be zones where federal immigration authorities are disallowed from conducting their work.
“Sanctuary cities are the most disgusting thing that has happened in this country,” Blanche said, adding that DOJ has been looking into pulling federal funding but worries about how it would adversely impact local law enforcement. “Lawsuits take time, and we don’t have time, so that is frustrating.”
Meanwhile, on the expo floor, vendors on Wednesday continued to hawk their wares to local law enforcement, members of the military and federal law enforcement.
One booth in particular attracted a number of bystanders.
The VirTra law enforcement simulator allowed any attendee to participate in a number of real world scenarios in order to train law enforcement on how to respond. Gunshot sound effects from the simulator could be heard all across the expo floor.
On Wednesday, the Mirror watched as one man participated in a training of Customs and Border Protection agents on a city street as protesters yelled at them. The man held a modified pepper ball gun that he shot at the screen.
CBP and ICE agents have been documented using pepper ball guns against protesters in cities where immigration crackdowns have occurred, in one case shooting a Chicago pastor in the head.
