With the Trump administration intensifying investigations into the overseas operations and financial networks of far-left extremist group Antifa, debate has sharpened over whether the group should be designated a foreign terrorist organization.
The shooting drew fresh attention to the so-called anti-fascist movement and Antifa.
“Let’s get it done,” Trump said.
White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller called it a “very valid step” because of Antifa’s foreign ties.
Designating a group as a foreign terrorist organization equips the federal government with greater authority to conduct international investigations, seize assets, and pursue criminal charges, providing more options beyond domestic measures.
Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) said he believes that a foreign terrorist designation for Antifa is necessary, and he recently wrote to Secretary of State Marco Rubio about Antifa’s overseas activities.
“They have an international network of safe houses. Antifa is not an idea, it’s an organization,” Schmitt told The Epoch Times.
“I think if we’re serious about taking on political violence ... they’re the tip of the spear, so I think it’s absolutely necessary.”
Antifa ‘Myth’
Critics argue that Trump’s actions against Antifa represent government overreach, as well as sparking a larger debate about using terror designations to address domestic dissent.
Some Democrats have downplayed Antifa’s involvement in riots and damage to property, suggesting that Antifa does not exist. In 2020, Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) commented on rioting involving Antifa in Portland, Oregon.
Former FBI Director Christopher Wray, who served under both Trump and President Joe Biden, described Antifa as an “ideology or a movement,” not a centralized organization, during a 2020 congressional hearing.
Antifascism began as a response to Italian dictator Benito Mussolini’s National Fascist Party in the 1920s. In 1932, Antifaschistische Aktion (Antifascist Action), a militant group that functioned as the violent arm of the communist party in Germany, gave the modern Antifa movement its nickname and symbols that are still in use today, such as the raised-fist salute. The group labeled its enemies as “fascists.”
Antifa members often wear “black bloc,” or all black clothing and masks, to remain anonymous and avoid prosecution for crimes such as vandalism and assault, he said.
Overseas Operation
In his Oct. 9 letter to Rubio, Schmitt pointed out that Antifa is “not a collection of independent domestic actors” but an international network.“I write to you today to urge you to designate the foreign networks, organizations, and financiers that enable and support Antifa operations as Foreign Terrorist Organizations,” Schmitt wrote.
His letter states that Antifa cells appear decentralized but coordinate and share tactics and funding streams.
“The political violence that Antifa-linked terrorists perpetrate on American streets is inextricably tied to this broader international system,” he wrote.
In Canada, a court confirmed ties between Antifa and the Canadian Anti-Hate Network group, according to Schmitt’s letter.
“This is a national, an international group of people that are organized to come to our state to undermine a public safety training center,” Carr said.
Ammon Blair, intelligence consultant and senior fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Secure and Sovereign Texas Initiative, said Trump needs to designate Antifa a foreign terrorist organization in order to dismantle it.
Such a designation allows intelligence agencies to gather information abroad, because those agencies cannot target U.S. citizens domestically, he said. It would also allow the government to cut off funding and material support for terrorism.
Blair said Antifa members and communist groups are agitating for “a color revolution” to destabilize Western countries. Color revolutions use grassroots mobilization, protests, and civil disobedience to topple governments.
“They think the oppression itself is our constitutional republic,” he told The Epoch Times.
Some European countries, such as Hungary and the Netherlands, supported Trump’s move to designate Antifa as a domestic terrorist group.
Tom Vandendriessche, a Belgian politician and member of the European Parliament, has been an outspoken critic of Antifa in Europe and wants a terrorist designation there as well.
Follow the Money
Blair said funding to Antifa is funneled through nongovernmental organizations and crowdfunding sites, which are harder to track.“It’s a clever way to mask donations,” he said.
One international funding organization called the International Anti-Fascist Defence Fund (IAFD), a spinoff of Antifa International Collective, stated that it seeks to make funding “accessible to all anti-fascists around the world.”
“Over the last 12 months, we’ve intervened nine times to assist 52 anti-fascists in Finland, France, Germany, the UK, and the US,” the group’s annual report reads.
An Alvarado Police Department officer was shot in the neck during the incident but survived.
Ten people were charged with the attempted murder of a police officer. Two alleged members of a Texas Antifa cell were charged with providing material support to terrorists. It marked the first terrorism-related charges brought against people allegedly linked to the network.
IAFD made a $5,050 donation to the GiveSendGo account for protesters at the Texas ICE facility, which has raised more than $45,000 as of Oct. 28.
The group, rooted in the German Communist Party, which was banned by the Nazis in 1933, claims 9,500 members, including anti-fascists. In 2017, Red Aid reported paying more than $441,000 in support for left-wing activists.
Blair contended that governments that ignore ideological threats risk allowing movements such as Antifa to gain momentum.
“Governments almost always act too late against revolutionary movements and insurgencies,” he said.
