President Donald Trump spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) about a wide range of topics, but one that caught much attention was his plan to eliminate Mexican drug cartels.

Part of Trump’s drive to close the border has been the drugs that have come across it which have ended the lives of many Americans and destroyed the lives of others.

But Trump said that his administration will hunt down the members of these cartels “like the savage animals they are.”

“Their members and leaders in the United States will be hunted down – I’m talking about MS-13, they’re hunting them down. We removed tens of thousands MS-13, Tren de Aragua – rooted out, arrested, and expelled from our soil like the savage monsters that they are,” Trump said to a cheering audience.

Department of State designated eight of these criminal organizations, which included the notorious MS-13 and Tren de Aragua, as foreign terrorist organizations and specially designated global terrorists on Thursday in a press release from Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

“Today, the State Department is fulfilling one of President Trump’s first promises since he took office.  I’m pleased to announce the Department’s designation of eight organizations as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) and Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs),” the secretary of state said.

“As President Trump said in Executive Order 14157, cartels and other transnational organizations ‘threaten the safety of the American people, the security of the United States, and the stability of the international order in the Western Hemisphere,’” he said.

“The State Department announces the designation of Tren de Aragua, Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), Cártel de Sinaloa, Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación, Cártel del Noreste (formerly Los Zetas), La Nueva Familia Michacana, Cártel de Golfo (Gulf Cartel), and Cárteles Unidos as FTOs and SDGTs,” Rubio said.

“The intent of designating these cartels and transnational organizations as terrorists is to protect our nation, the American people, and our hemisphere.  That means stopping the campaigns of violence and terror by these vicious groups both in the United States and internationally.  These designations provide law enforcement additional tools to stop these groups,” he said.

“Terrorist designations play a critical role in our fight against terrorism and are an effective way to curtail support for terrorist activities.  Today’s actions taken by the State Department demonstrate the Trump Administration’s commitment to protecting our national security interests and dismantling these dangerous organizations,” he added.