Bill would designate Mexican cartels as 'terrorist' groups

"No known international terrorist organizations had an operational presence in Mexico and no terrorist incidents targeting U.S. interests and personnel occurred on or originated from Mexican territory," the State Department said in a report made public last August. "Cartels increasingly used military-style terrorist tactics to attack security forces. There was no evidence of ties between Mexican organized crime syndicates and domestic or international terrorist groups."

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, also counseled caution about designating Mexican cartels terrorist organizations.

"Cartels are in it for one thing — money," Cornyn said. "To me, we need to be clear about what is happening in Mexico. We have got to be careful about the label because sometime those labels can create misleading impressions.