U.S. President Donald Trump on the South Lawn of the White House on Dec. 12, 2020.
The White House announced Jan. 5 that President Donald Trump has signed a memo seeking to block individuals associated with the far-left group Antifa from entering the United States, saying the group’s radical and violent actions have endangered the fabric of the country.
“Antifa radicals have brutally attacked our law-abiding friends, neighbors and business owners and destroyed historic landmarks that our communities have held dear for decades,” White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said in a statement Tuesday evening (5).
“This kind of violence and lawlessness has no place in America and will be judged as domestic terrorism.”
“Today, President Trump signed a memorandum to ensure that federal officials will assess Antifa elements as aliens associated with terrorist organizations, aliens intending to engage in criminal activity, in accordance with federal law.”
The statement said, “President Trump will not allow Antifa, or any terrorist organization, to undermine our great nation.”
In his memo, Trump cited the security of U.S. citizens as a reason to deny entry to individuals associated with Antifa as aliens who have engaged in or may engage in terrorist activity and aliens who entered the United States for the purpose of engaging in illegal activity under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).
The Act requires that a determination of whether an individual may have entered the United States for the purpose of engaging in unlawful activity must take into account whether the individual is an active member of a criminal group.
Members of Antifa hold anarchist and (BLM) flags during a protest in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 12, 2020.
Antifa is described as an anarchist movement that openly supports communism and socialism.
On Aug. 9, 2020, former Attorney General William Barr described the group as, a revolutionary organization intent on establishing socialism or communism in the United States. Barr said the extremist group has been engaged in this goal since the first day of the Trump administration.
Trump previously said the U.S. would declare Antifa a terrorist organization, but the administration has not yet taken formal steps to do so.
Shortly before the memo was released, Trump described Antifa as a “terrorist organization” on Twitter and warned the group not to enter Washington during a Jan. 6 protest organized by several groups.
Authorities in Washington warned against bringing guns to Wednesday’s protest, and police on Monday arrested the head of the Proud Boys, who is accused of burning a “Black Lives Matter” flag. The flag was said to have been taken down from the Asbury United Methodist Church in downtown Washington.
According to “credible reports,” Antifa is directly or indirectly responsible for certain “recent violations” in communities across the country, the memo said.
The memo says Antifa “has used the tragedy to advance a radical, leftist, anarchist and often violent agenda,” adding that the organization “has long used otherwise permissible demonstrations to engage in criminal lawlessness in order to advance its radical agenda.
The memo refers to Antifa’s attack on independent journalist Andy Ngo. He sued Antifa Portland in June 2020 for assault, battery and “intentional infliction of emotional distress” and accused the group of running a racketeering enterprise.
On June 29, 2019, in Portland, Oregon, unidentified Antifa members attacked Andy Ngo, a Portland journalist, who was covered in an unknown substance as a result of the attack.
The memo said, “Antifa-inspired violence, such as throwing explosive and incendiary devices at police, burning vehicles, and using violence against police in defiance of local curfews, endangers people’s lives and the fabric of the state.”
The memo cites a number of other violated incidents in recent years from which Antifa protesters have physically attacked individuals, caused property damage, and threatened violence against law enforcement officers.
A day before the memo was released, U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Texas) said a group of Antifa members threatened his family.
The memo said the secretary of state, in consultation with the attorney general and the secretary of homeland security, will review information provided by the Justice Department to assess whether to list Antifa as a terrorist organization. Members of Antifa will also be considered for listing as “foreign nationals of identified criminal organizations,” the memo said.
“These acts of violence undermine the rights of peaceful protesters and destroy the lives, freedoms and property of the people of this country, especially those who are most vulnerable.”
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