WASHINGTON — Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem claimed Wednesday that the Antifa movement is “just as sophisticated” as Hamas, ISIS and MS-13 — as the Trump administration threatened to launch a crackdown on the far-left street fighters.
“This network of Antifa is just as sophisticated as MS-13, as TDA [Tren de Aragua], as ISIS, as Hezbollah, as Hamas, as all of them,” Noem said at an Antifa-focused White House roundtable chaired by President Trump.
“They are just as dangerous. They have an agenda to destroy us, just like the other terrorists we’ve dealt with.”
Noem made the claim after visiting Portland, Ore., earlier this week, where she observed from a rooftop a group of anti-ICE protesters, including a demonstrator in a large chicken costume.
Trump declared Antifa, an portmanteau of “anti-fascist,” a “domestic terrorist organization” on Sept. 22 and hosted administration officials and conservative journalists at the White House to discuss how to combat the movement, whose adherents often clash with law enforcement and right-wing counterprotesters.
Attorney General Pam Bondi pledged to “destroy” Antifa — describing it as a criminal organization rather than a decentralized network.
“Fighting crime is more than just getting the bad guy off the streets. It’s breaking down the organization brick by brick, just like we did with cartels,” she said.
“We’re going to take the same approach, President Trump, with Antifa — destroy the entire organization from top to bottom,” Bondi added.
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“We’re going to take them apart. Thanks to your bold leadership and the designation of Antifa as a terrorist organization, which is exactly what they are. Americans will no longer tolerate their unhinged violence,” the AG told the president.
Bondi did not identify purported organizational leaders whom she intends to target. Although there are some organized Antifa chapters, other panelists described autonomous groups operating in cities around the country.
Trump, responding to a reporter’s question, said he was willing to declare Antifa to be a foreign terrorist organization (FTO) on top of his recent domestic declaration.
The president also agreed with another questioner who claimed that Antifa members “dressed up like Trump supporters” were responsible for violence during the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
Three journalists and social media influencers who have documented and condemned Antifa violence noted during the panel that there were obvious challenges to any federal crackdown — due to the fact that Antifa is a “decentralized” political movement.
“Thank you so much for acknowledging Antifa and for directing your administration to treat them as domestic terrorists,” Post Millennial editor Andy Ngo told Trump in the White House State Dining Room.
“It’s going to be really challenging, because how they organize is that they are decentralized, autonomous, and they operate on deception.”
Julio Rosas, a journalist at The Blaze who has covered protests and riots in many major cities, also noted that Antifa isn’t like other outlaw cliques.
“The common argument is like, ‘Well, they’re not a real organization because there’s no national leadership. They don’t have a national headquarters. So how can law enforcement go after a group that doesn’t exist?’” Rosas said.
“Well, law enforcement goes after criminal groups that organize to rob banks or do smash and grabs,” Rosas added.
“They don’t have a registered LLC, they don’t have official membership cards, they don’t have, you know, a business address, but law enforcement still goes after them because they’re working as a group. These people don’t just show up randomly at the same time to do the same thing, dressed in very similar fashion, espousing the same ideology.”
Brandi Kruse, a social media influencer who has documented her independent coverage of protests, said, “I do understand the challenge, as Andy pointed out, with Antifa as a graspable entity, I do.
“But at the end of the day, when you look at behavior, you prosecute behavior, right? We’re not prosecuting ideas or ideology. You’re prosecuting behavior,” Kruse said.
“So whether you can prove that this amorphous thing is Antifa or someone has a patch that says Antifa, it doesn’t matter. You know, did they assault someone? Did they assault a federal agent? Were they engaged in rioting?”
