H.R. 1238 — Cartel Marque and Reprisal Authorization Act of 2025

This section establishes the short title of the Act as the “Cartel Marque and Reprisal Authorization Act of 2025.”

This section states congressional findings that Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution authorizes Congress to grant letters of marque and reprisal to punish, deter, and prevent acts of aggression and depredations committed by cartel conspirators, and that cartels pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States.

This section establishes a new presidential authority to issue letters of marque and reprisal to privately armed and equipped persons and entities, and directs them to seize, outside the geographic boundaries of the United States and its territories, the person and property of any individual the President determines is a member of a cartel, a member of a cartel-linked organization, or a conspirator associated with such an organization who is responsible for an act of aggression against the United States. It also requires the President to obtain a security bond in an amount the President determines is sufficient to ensure compliance with the terms and conditions of the letter. The section defines “cartel” to mean an organization described in section 1 of the January 20, 2025, executive order titled “Designating Cartels And Other Organizations As Foreign Terrorist Organizations and Specially Designated Global Terrorists” or a “transnational criminal organization” under 21 U.S.C. 2341(5) (i.e., the Sinaloa Cartel, Jalisco New Generation Cartel, Gulf Cartel, Los Zetas Cartel, Juarez Cartel, Tijuana Cartel, Beltran-Leyva Cartel, La Familia Michoacana, any successor organization, or any organization designated as a significant transnational criminal organization under 31 C.F.R. part 590).