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DDonald Trump’s Justice Department is moving quickly to prosecute Alleged members of “Antifa” after the president signed an executive order Declaring the militant anti-fascist movement a “domestic terrorist organization.”
Last week, two people were charged with attempted murder and weapons possession “Ambushed” at an immigration detention center in Texas Additional terrorism-related crimes were reported this summer. A trial is tentatively scheduled to begin next month.
The charges against Autumn Hill and Zachary Evetts are the first against anyone accused of being a member of Antifa. long live boogeyman For the Trump administration, it is exploring legal tools for a broader crackdown against leftist dissent and protests.
Administration officials have repeatedly linked Antifa to acts of political violence, while also claiming without evidence that the movement is being financially supported by groups supporting Democratic candidates – leading critics to fear this is an effort to criminalize political opposition.
The latest indictment signals that the Justice Department has launched a sweeping investigation of the movement, which Trump and prosecutors are calling a criminal “enterprise” that could be prosecuted like the Mafia.
Evetts and Hill, who is named in the indictment as Cameron Arnold, were among 10 people arrested this summer after a July 4 shooting outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Alvarado, Texas.
The 12-page indictment charges Evans and Hill with providing material support to terrorists, as well as attempted murder and firearms offenses. The two are not accused of shooting at the officers, but prosecutors say they were part of a “North Texas Antifa cell” that “planned and coordinated” the attack using encrypted messaging apps.
The indictment describes Antifa as “an extremist enterprise composed of a network of individuals and small groups, primarily ascribed to a revolutionary anarchist or autocratic Marxist ideology.”
According to prosecutors, that “enterprise” calls for “the overthrow of the United States government, law enforcement officials, and the rule of law.”
The use of the word “enterprise” is a matter of concern to legal experts.
An “enterprise” investigation opens the door for federal law enforcement to examine a targeted group’s finances, membership, communications, and overall structure.
But Antifa encompasses a broader extremist subculture of individuals and loosely affiliated groups—who often physically confront far-right groups in the streets—rather than any specific organization.
Thomas E. Brzozowski, former domestic terrorism counsel in the National Security Division of the Department of Justice. told the raw story Investigating Antifa as an “enterprise” gives the FBI the resources to investigate “anybody who falls into this realm that they think is broad, even if you don’t engage in violence in furtherance of this ideology.”
Brzozowski, who served under the Biden and Obama administrations as well as Trump’s first administration, warned that the government’s “amorphous definition” of antifa “encompasses such a wide range of ideologies that it’s a broad spectrum of people who are otherwise unaffiliated.”
“I think it’s a problem,” he said.
A federal investigation could focus not only on those accused of committing acts of violence, but also on anyone who appears remotely connected, including people who attended the same protests, and left-leaning nonprofit groups and political figures who support them.
Republican officials have already been stigmatizing the protests for years as the work of “Antifa” or “paid protesters,” who are often seen as the same thing, working in concert with Democratic elected officials.
The Department of Homeland Security was recently forced to remove several public statements about a Democratic congressman who is accused of assaulting federal officers during a chaotic clash outside an ICE facility in New Jersey. Last month, the administration baselessly accused LaMonica McIver of “Antifa-aligned domestic extremism” — a statement that was removed from Homeland Security’s website after her lawyers brought it to the attention of a federal judge.
In his executive order declaring Antifa a domestic terrorist organization, Trump directed “all relevant executive departments and agencies” to “use all applicable authorities to investigate, disrupt, and dismantle any and all illegal operations – particularly operations involving terrorist activities – that were conducted by Antifa or anyone claiming to act on behalf of Antifa, or who is suspected of acting on Antifa’s behalf.” Anyone claiming to have provided material assistance, including necessary investigation and prosecutorial action against those financing such actions.”
Chip Gibbons, policy director of Defending Rights and Dissent, said the order “appears to be a green light for law enforcement and intelligence to spy on and investigate left-wing political speech.”
Brzozowski said, “The order is broad in its rhetoric, yet almost certainly empty of formal legal effect.” Wrote in Lawfare earlier this month.
He wrote, “That emptiness is intentional. The harm is in the declaration.”
According to Brzozowski, even if the order does not survive legal challenges, it could still “do the work of the law on the streets, at bank compliance desks, and on social media platforms”. “The cooling effect is not imaginary; that is the point.”
State officials are also taking notice. Earlier this month, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton directed state law enforcement to “identify, investigate, and infiltrate these left-wing terrorist cells.”
“There can be no compromise with those who want us dead,” He said.
Trump administration is also Consideration of declaring Antifa a foreign terrorist organizationAccording to Brzozowski, that could expose alleged members to a wide range of sanctions and investigations, as well as “surveillance, surveillance and criminal liability under anti-terrorism laws”.
“The chilling effect will be immediate and profound,” he wrote last week. “When anti-fascism itself becomes suspect, the power of the state to monitor and silence increases dramatically.”
On July 4, the group wore masks and black clothing as they descended on the outskirts of the facility, armed with fireworks and 10 firearms – four of which were purchased by an unnamed co-conspirator.
That co-conspirator allegedly fired a shot from an AR-style rifle, striking a police officer working at the facility in the neck.
Only one member of the alleged “Antifa cell” — described in court filings as “Co-conspirator-1” — is accused of opening fire on law enforcement on July 4.
The Justice Department previously named the gunman as Benjamin Haniel Song, who is being charged separately with three counts of attempted murder of federal agents. Song has not been prosecuted as a member of Antifa.
The indictment charges Evetts and Hill with aiding and abetting the attack.
Independent has requested comment from his lawyers, who have denied the government’s allegations and said prosecutors have not presented evidence linking him to the “Anafifa cell.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi announced the charges on social media, claiming they prove that “Antifa is a left-wing terrorist organization.”
“They will be prosecuted,” he said.
FBI Director Kash Patel said, “We are arresting anarchists who seek to harm law enforcement.”
“Antifa is not a protest movement, it is a domestic terrorist organization,” he wrote. “The media can pretend otherwise. We won’t do that.”