ANDY NGO REPORTS: Antifa could soon be branded a foreign terror group

According to a source not authorized to speak publicly, the DNI is examining Antifa’s transnational ties. If formally recommended by the DNI, the foreign terror group designation would ultimately still have to be approved by the State Department.

The President’s announcement on Truth Social was celebrated by conservatives but is largely symbolic, as US law does not recognize “domestic terrorist organizations.” The categorization is mostly used in law enforcement to understand various groups.

Courts have repeatedly held that the First Amendment widely protects association — even with groups that advocate violence. However, an FTO designation would carry teeth: it would allow sanctions against Antifa’s overseas networks and individuals, and criminalize American involvement in organizing with them, or receiving funds. Additionally, the Department of Justice could look at how state prosecutors in San Diego County in 2024 identified and broke up the So Cal Antifa cell by successfully convicting 12 members with felony conspiracy to riot. Conspiracy and RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act) criminal statutes also exist at the federal level.

Antifa is a decentralized international network that solicits attacks on targets and provides instructional and training materials on methods for attacks, including on infrastructure and government officials. The violence and organizing are done in furtherance of revolutionary anarchist-communist ideology.

Those who carry out attacks or kill are glorified and celebrated by Antifa.

If the State Department were to designate Antifa as an FTO, it would not be the first time an international decentralized network was targeted this way.

President Biden’s State Department in January 2025 designated Terrorgram, a decentralized mostly online international collective of far-right extremists, as a terrorist organization. The foreign leaders of the groups had their property and financial interests subject to US jurisdiction blocked. Terrorgram functions similarly to Antifa in how they call for violent attacks on infrastructure, government officials and individuals.

The President’s announcement came just days after conservative activist and youth leader Charlie Kirk was assassinated in front of a student audience in Utah. Kirk and events organized by his group, TPUSA, have been the target of violent Antifa and far-left attacks for many years.

Assassin suspect Tyler Robinson allegedly inscribed Antifa slogans and the lyrics of “Bella Ciao” on rifle cartridges used in the attack. Despite this, left-wing activists and media figures falsely claimed the song was a far-right dog whistle.

In 2019, an Antifa member in Washington state carried out a shooting and explosives attack on an ICE facility in Tacoma, Wash. Willem van Spronsen was shot dead by police after he tried to blow up a large propane tank attached to the facility. Before the attack, van Spronsen sent an Antifa manifesto to his comrades and referenced the same song. His comrades did not contact law enforcement.

In response to Trump’s announcement, Antifa supporters and sympathetic media outlets are insisting that Antifa “doesn’t exist.” Yet Antifa networks are well documented, from the Torch Antifa Network — which includes Portland’s notorious Rose City Antifa — to Antifa International, which helps prospective members connect to country-specific cells.

If the FTO designation moves forward, it would mark the most significant legal step in holding Antifa accountable for domestic and international organized crime.