The Trump administration has designated four European Antifa organizations as terrorist groups, marking a major shift in the federal government’s security approach.
Four groups in Germany, Italy, and Greece have been designated as Specially Designated Global Terrorists by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who announced on Thursday that he plans to name them as foreign terrorist organizations starting next week.
Antifa Ost, the Informal Anarchist Federation/International Revolutionary Front (FAI/FRI), Revolutionary Class Self-Defense, and Armed Proletarian Justice were classified alongside ISIS-K and al-Shabaab.
The action coincides with President Donald Trump's desire to take aim at the Antifa organization, which frequently leans left politically and has a clear leadership or unified structure.
Trump issued an order in September that designated Antifa as a domestic terrorist group and instructed government agencies to combat it.
Rubio on Thursday accused Antifa groups of ascribing to “revolutionary anarchist or Marxist ideologies, including anti-Americanism, ‘anti-capitalism,’ and anti-Christianity, using these to incite and justify violent assaults domestically and overseas.”
“FAI/FRI has claimed responsibility for threats of violence, bombs, and letter bombs against political and economic institutions, including a courthouse and other ‘capitalist institutions,’”
the State Department fact sheet said.
A State Department fact report claims that between 2018 and 2023, Germany-based Antifa Ost attacked people it considered to be "fascists" in Germany "and is accused of having conducted a series of attacks in Budapest in mid-February 2023." Earlier this year, Hungary classified it as a terrorist group.
Due to the designations, Americans aren't allowed to "deliberately" give material backing to the groups, and any means held by them in the US will be banned.
What legal process allows the State Department to list foreign terrorist groups?
The Secretary of State has the authority to designate an association as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) if it's foreign, engaged in terrorist exertion or terrorism, or has the capability and intent to do so, and if its terrorism threatens the security of U.S. citizens or public security.
The designation doesn't bear previous notice or a hail for the group, but congressional leaders are notified before publication in the Federal Register. The Secretary may calculate classified information in making the determination, although judicial review of the designation is conducted by the U.S. Court of prayers for the D.C. Circuit.
Designations must be reviewed every five times, and the Secretary can drop a designation if the group’s circumstances or the public security situation change.