What does a U.S. terrorist designation do?

The United States designates terrorist groups in two main ways. The Secretary of State designates Foreign Terrorist Organizations under a 1996 law, after finding that a group is foreign, engages in terrorist activity or terrorism or keeps the capability and intent to, and threatens the security of U.S. nationals or U.S. national security.¹ Executive Order 13224, signed September 23, 2001, created the Specially Designated Global Terrorist label, which blocks the designee's assets. Under it, the Secretary of State can designate foreign persons who have committed, or pose a significant risk of committing, acts of terrorism, and the Secretary of the Treasury can designate persons owned or controlled by, acting for, supporting or otherwise connected to those designees.²

Many groups carry both labels. The Congressional Research Service notes one difference: Congress can overturn an FTO designation by law, while an SDGT designation may remain at the executive branch's discretion.³

Before an FTO designation, the State Department compiles an administrative record that can include classified information. The law requires seven days of classified notice to congressional leaders and committees before the designation is published in the Federal Register, when it takes effect.¹⁴ A designated group can petition for revocation two years after its designation, and the secretary must review a designation that has gone five years without review. The group can also ask the federal appeals court in Washington to review the designation within 30 days of publication; that review is based on the administrative record, and classified material can be shown to the judges alone. A defendant in a criminal case cannot challenge the designation's validity as a defense.¹

As of March 2026, the Congressional Research Service counted 94 current FTOs and said more entities were added to the list in 2025 than in any year since it began in 1997.⁵ By October 2026 the State Department's list named 100 FTOs, after six more designations from June to September 2026.⁴

An SDGT designation blocks the designee's property in the United States or held by U.S. persons and bars U.S. persons from dealing with it.² For FTOs, U.S. financial institutions that find funds in which a designated group has an interest must hold them and report them to the Treasury. Non-citizen representatives and members of a designated FTO can be barred from entering, and in some cases removed from, the United States.⁴

Knowingly providing material support or resources to a designated FTO is a federal crime punishable by up to 20 years in prison, or life if someone dies as a result. The person must know that the group is designated or that it engages in terrorism.⁶ In Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project in 2010, the Supreme Court upheld the law as applied to the activities the plaintiffs wanted to pursue, including training and expert advice for designated groups, while holding that it "does not criminalize mere membership" and does not bar independent advocacy.⁷

A designation is an executive-branch decision about a named group or person, not a criminal conviction. Designations name specific organizations and, separately, specific people: the January 2026 Brotherhood actions, for example, named the Lebanese branch's secretary general individually.⁸ Under Executive Order 13224, people who support a designee or meet the order's other criteria can themselves be designated, but that takes a further decision.²

The Congressional Research Service wrote in 2017 that the federal government lacks a process for publicly designating domestic terrorist organizations,⁹ and national security experts told PolitiFact in September 2025 that the State Department has no legal authority to designate domestic terrorist groups.¹⁰ On September 22, 2025, President Trump signed an order designating Antifa a "domestic terrorist organization" and directing agencies to investigate, disrupt and dismantle illegal operations conducted by Antifa or by people claiming to act for it. The order says it is to be implemented consistent with applicable law.¹¹ On November 20, 2025, the State Department designated four groups as FTOs, including Antifa Ost.⁴

A January 20, 2025 executive order started a process to designate international cartels and other organizations as FTOs and SDGTs.¹² On February 20, 2025, the State Department designated eight groups, including Tren de Aragua, MS-13 and the Sinaloa cartel.¹³ The Congressional Research Service counted 27 entities designated as FTOs from the start of President Trump's second term through March 2026.⁵

U.S. officials have said the designation of Venezuela's Cartel de los Soles enables "new options" for military action, while critics argue that U.S. law does not explicitly authorize military action against an FTO.¹⁴ A Lead Inspector General report says only groups designated as DTOs, cartels the President has named as "designated terrorist organizations," are subject to strikes under Operation Southern Spear, the military's operation against them, and that the full list of DTOs is not publicly releasable.¹⁵ U.N. Special Rapporteur Ben Saul argues that listing criminal groups as terrorist organizations gives no right to use force against them in self-defense.¹⁶

A November 24, 2025 executive order started a process for considering certain chapters or subdivisions of the Muslim Brotherhood for designation, naming those in Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt.¹⁷ On January 13, 2026, the State Department announced the designation of the Lebanese Muslim Brotherhood as an SDGT and as an FTO, the latter effective January 14,⁸⁴ and Treasury designated the Egyptian and Jordanian branches as SDGTs for what it called material support to Hamas.¹⁸ The State Department designated the Sudanese Muslim Brotherhood as an FTO in March 2026.¹⁹

Treasury says Brotherhood chapters "purport to be legitimate civic organizations" while supporting terrorist groups such as Hamas.¹⁸ The Charity & Security Network, whose analysis criticizes the designations, recalls that opponents of a designation had long argued successfully that the Brotherhood is a decentralized movement that includes social service organizations, political parties and paramilitary offshoots in a number of Middle Eastern countries.²⁰

State governments have acted separately. The governors of Texas and Florida designated the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist organizations under state authority, and CAIR has sued officials in both states, according to the Charity & Security Network.²⁰ CBS News reported that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's November 2025 proclamation barred members of both groups from purchasing or acquiring land in the state, that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis acted in December 2025, and that the federal government had not taken such action against CAIR.²¹ A House bill introduced in April 2026 would direct Treasury to list CAIR and its chapter affiliates as SDGTs.²²