Washington DC - President Donald Trump's administration has designated the El Salvador-based gang Barrio 18 a "foreign terrorist organization."

"Barrio 18 is one of the largest gangs in our hemisphere and has conducted attacks against security personnel, public officials, and civilians in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras," Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement on Tuesday.

In February, the US designated the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, the Mexican Sinaloa cartel, and six other drug trafficking groups as "terrorist" organizations.

In July, Washington added the "Cartel de los Soles" to this list, which it described as a Venezuelan gang led by President Nicolás Maduro to support drug trafficking into the US.

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The Trump administration has deployed eight warships to the Caribbean, threatening Venezuela while launching deadly attacks on small boats in what experts have described as extrajudicial executions or straightforward murder.

According to the Salvadoran government, Mara Salvatrucha (better known as MS-13) and Barrio 18 are responsible for the deaths of approximately 200,000 people in three decades.

One victim of the latter gang has been Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who fled his native country as a 16-year-old due to threats to him and his family.

Despite this history, he has been accused without solid evidence of being a gang member himself and was temporarily deporting to El Salvador earlier this year, despite a court order explicitly barring his removal.

Abrego Garcia has since returned to the US, but remains under threat of deportation to a third country he has no connection to.