Analysis
What the administration claimed
DHS stated that charged individuals have affiliations with the Trinitarios gang and characterized that gang as "a foreign terrorist organization."
Claimant: U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) DHS press release / HSI Newark HSTF (in DHS statement)
Agency or office: Department of Homeland Security
Context
DHS press release (HSI Newark HSTF section) summarizing recent fentanyl seizures and arrests and characterizing the charged individuals' gang affiliation.
Evidence
The DHS press release characterizes the Trinitarios as "a foreign terrorist organization." The U.S. government’s formal Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) designations are made by the U.S. Department of State and published on its Foreign Terrorist Designations list; that list does not include the Trinitarios. Open-source and law-enforcement reporting instead describe the Trinitarios as a transnational criminal street gang. There is no evidence of a formal U.S. FTO designation for the Trinitarios, so DHS’s characterization is misleading and not supported by the official FTO list.