President Trump moved Monday to classify the broad left-wing, anti-fascist movement known as antifa as a domestic terrorist association, opening up a new front in his battle wiht political foes and raising legal and ethical questions about how the U.S. government can prosecute a movement.
“Antifa is a militarist, anarchist enterprise that explicitly calls for the overthrow of the United States Government, law enforcement authorities, and our system of law,” Trump wrote in an executive order. “It uses illegal means to organize and execute a campaign of violence and terrorism nationwide to accomplish these goals.”
Militant activists who identify with antifa have espoused an uncompromising philosophy of zero tolerance for fascists.As the Republican president took office in 2017, protesters – concealing their identities with masks, dressing head to toe in black – have sparred with police to block a right–wing provocateur speaking at UC Berkeley, confronted alt-right demonstrators with sticks,shields and chemical irritants in Charlottesville,Va., stormed a federal courthouse while protesting police brutality in Portland, Ore., and lobbed rocks at law enforcement as federal immigration agents ratcheted up raids in Los Angeles.
But critics warn Trump is utilizing right-wing activist Charlie Kirk’s recent killing to launch a sweeping government crackdown on his political opponents – and crush their constitutional rights to free speech and free assembly.”I am very concerned that these actions are meant to punish disfavored dissent,” said Brian Levin, founder of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at Cal State San Bernardino.
in his order, Trump instructed all relevant federal departments and agencies to use their authority to “investigate, disrupt, and dismantle any and all illegal operations – especially those involving terrorist actions – conducted by Antifa or any person claiming to act on behalf of Antifa.”
Trump claimed his management would also investigate and prosecute anyone who funded such an operation.
As justification, Trump cited recent protests that took place in L.A. and across the nation. antifa, he said, used “coordinated efforts to obstruct enforcement of Federal laws through armed standoffs with law enforcement, organized riots, violent assaults on Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other law enforcement officers, and routine doxing of and other threats against political figures and activists.”
Trump is fixating on left-wing violence even as data show U.S. extremists come from across the ideological spectrum: A 2024 federal report – recently purged from the Department of Justice website – stated that far-right
Understanding Antifa
Antifa, short for “anti-fascist,” isn’t a single organization. It’s a broad, decentralized political movement of individuals and groups who aim to counter far-right and fascist ideologies.There is no central organization, no command, headquarters or formal membership list.
The movement has grown in response to the rise of Trump.
“Suddenly, anarchists and antifa, who have been demonized and sidelined by the wider Left have been hearing from liberals and Leftists, ‘you’ve been right all along,'” the anarchist, antifascist journal, It’s Going Down, said in 2016 after clashes broke out on a Texas campus as protesters tried to cancel an alt-right speaker.
Could Trump designate antifa a terrorist group?
Many national security experts agree that Trump would be cutting a radically new path if he designated antifa as a terrorism organization: The U.S. does not have a domestic terrorism law, and Trump does not have the authority to designate antifa a foreign terrorist organization without approval from Congress.
“While the FBI has confirmed that antifa and other extremists are subjects of ongoing domestic terrorism investigations, it declines to designate any organization a “‘domestic terrorist organization,” a 2020 congressional report said. “Doing so may infringe on First Amendment-protected free speech – belonging to an ideological group in and of itself is not a crime in the United States.”
Trump could try to go after antifa as an international organization, Hoffman said, pointing out that there are antifa cells active abroad.But it would be a stretch to designate antifa an international terrorist group as there’s no known international command, control or coordination.