Senators introduce legislation to codify Antifa terror designation

By Sarah Roderick-Fitch
The Center Square

More than a month after President Donald Trump designated Antifa a domestic terror organization, a group of senators is proposing legislation to codify the president’s executive order.

The Stop ANTIFA Act has been introduced by U.s. Sens. Ashley Moody, R-Fla., Rick Scott, R-Fla., and Mike Lee, R-Utah, which would direct the National Joint Terrorism Task Force to investigate Antifa.

The president’s executive order designating Antifa a domestic terror organization came a week after The Center Square posed the question to Trump in the Oval Office, following a rise in left-wing violence, including the assassination of conservative political activist Charlie Kirk.

The president’s executive order describes the group as a “militarist, anarchist enterprise,” which calls for the overthrow of the federal government, especially targeting law enforcement.

Antifa “uses illegal means to organize and execute a campaign of violence and terrorism nationwide to accomplish these goals. This campaign involves 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,” according to the executive order.

The president’s order says the group targets young Americans as part of its recruiting efforts, while radicalizing and training them to engage in “violence and suppression of political activities.”

Antifa “employs elaborate means and mechanisms to shield the identities of its operatives, conceal its funding sources and operations in an effort to frustrate law enforcement, and recruit additional members. Individuals associated with and acting on behalf of Antifa further coordinate with other organizations and entities for the purpose of spreading, fomenting, and advancing political violence and suppressing lawful political speech. This organized effort designed to achieve policy objectives by coercion and intimidation is domestic terrorism,” the executive order added.

Moody echoed the president’s executive order, underscoring the group’s continual targeting of law enforcement.

“Violent extremists who target our law enforcement officers and destroy our communities must be held accountable. It’s far past time to designate Antifa a terrorist organization. The Stop ANTIFA Act makes it clear that organized violence has no place in America,” Moody said in a news release.

During an Antifa round table with independent journalists at the White House on Oct. 8, The Center Square asked the president if he would go a step further and designate the group a foreign terror organization, with the president responding, “let’s get it done.”

While the president directed Secretary of State Marco Rubio to “take care of it,” the group has yet to be officially designated a foreign terror organization.