Terrorist-Designated Jalisco Cartel, Now Active in Tennessee, Faces New Sanctions Under Trump Treasury Department
The U.S. Treasury Department and Secretary Scott Bessent placed new sanctions on individuals accused of involvement with Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion, or the Jalisco Cartel, a Mexico-based criminal organization that is active in Tennessee and across the country.
A Thursday press release explained the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned three Mexican nationals and two Mexican entities for their alleged involvement in what the Treasury described as, “a drug trafficking and fuel theft network” linked to the Jalisco Cartel.
The three men sanctioned are, Cesar Morfin Morfin (pictures above), Alvaro Noe Morfin Morfin, and Remigio Morfin Morfin, brothers and alleged members of the cartel, who were sanctioned for their role in the criminal organization’s fentanyl trafficking and fuel theft operations.
Also sanctioned were two hazardous materials companies, Servicios Logisticos Ambientales and Grupo Jala Logistica, which the Treasury Department said, “operate, directly or indirectly,” for the cartel’s leadership.
Bessent said in a statement that the businesses are “cash cows” for the cartel.
“Treasury, as part of the Administration’s whole-of-government effort, will continue to use all available tools to relentlessly target drug cartels and foreign terrorist organizations to Make America Safe Again,” said Bessent.
National Border Patrol Council president Paul Anthony Perez predicted in a statement obtained by The Tennessee Star that the actions by OFAC would have a “devastating and crippling effect” on the cartel’s ability to operate on American soil.
“When President Trump took the oath of office, the criminal cartels were put on notice that their days were numbered. These actions today will ensure that the cartels no longer have the ability to provide unlimited funds to further their criminal enterprises and, at the same time, it will allow the United States Government to disrupt their daily activities on both sides of the border,” said Perez. “Their reign of terror will come to an end because of the strength and power that President Trump has brought back to the Oval Office.”
As part of the sanctions, Treasury also seized possessions from the cartel members, including luxury vehicles and exotic animals, among which authorities seized a jaguar (pictured here).
The Jalisco Cartel has been confirmed to be present in Tennessee since at least 2022, when the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) named it as one of two Mexican drug cartels responsible for bringing fentanyl into the state.
In 2023, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) reported conducting more than 28 investigations as part of a yearlong program to crack down on the Jalisco Cartel in Tennessee, Kentucky, and West Virginia, and that the investigations culminated in 137 arrests.
Additionally, after the DEA announced that cartels are now operating in every American state last year, a drug task force member told WKRN, “Nashville is growing rapidly as a major source city in the narcotics trafficking business.”
Notably, the Jalisco Cartel was among the criminal organizations the Trump administration designated as foreign terrorist organizations earlier this year. The designation, made by Secretary of State Marco Rubio in February in accordance with an executive order signed by President Donald Trump, allowed the federal government to freeze assets belonging to the cartels, as well as their financial networks.
Watch Bessent’s full statement:
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photos “CesarMorfin Morfin” and “Seized Jaguar” by The U.S. Treasury Department.