Scope: State (Texas)
Branch: Executive
Severity: Amber
Date occurred: September 21, 2022
Governor Greg Abbott signed Executive Order GA-42, designating specified Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations and directing state agencies, including the Department of Public Safety, to act on that designation. Under federal law, formal foreign terrorist organization designations are made by the U.S. Secretary of State.
Constitutional basis: Novel state-level assertion of a foreign terrorist designation power federal law vests in the Secretary of State; directs Texas agencies under gubernatorial executive authority.