At a White House policy meeting, Kristi Noem on Wednesday compared antifa to the notorious gang, Hamas, the Iran-backed group and ISIS, describing the decentralized street activists “just as dangerous” as designated terrorist organizations.
“They operate with the same complexity as Mara Salvatrucha, as TDA [Tren de Aragua], as Isis, as Hezbollah, as Hamas, as all of them, they are just as dangerous,” Noem said. “Their goal is to dismantle our society, just like the other terrorists we have confronted for many, many years.”
The discussion featured conservative online reporters including Andy Ngo, Nick Sortor, Katie Daviscourt among others who cover antifa protests.
Several organizations mentioned by the secretary – Hamas, Hezbollah and Isis – are officially classified as terror groups that hold land, run armed branches, maintain command structures and have executed large-scale assaults including bombings, kidnappings and assassinations.
Extremism experts have long described antifa, in comparison, as having no centralized leadership, official membership or structured hierarchy, and it has generally been described by federal law enforcement as a decentralized movement of campaigners who participate in demonstrations, portions of which involve damage to belongings and street violence.
The roundtable follows an executive order issued in September classifying antifa as a “domestic terrorist organization”.
Days before the announcement, Joe Biggs who was convicted and then pardoned for his actions during the Capitol events wrote on social media: “Who is prepared to pursue anti-fascist activists? Since I am acquainted with several individuals.”
