Trump threatening Antifa with terrorist tag has more to do with their beliefs than any violent act: Expert
In an exclusive interview with MEA Worldwide, an expert has claimed that it is highly doubtful that the US President Donald Trump can designate Antifa as a ‘Terrorist Organization’. The comments from Ted Shaw, who is the Julius L. Chambers Distinguished Professor of Law and the Director of the UNC Center for Civil Rights, came after Trump recently said he will officially declare Antifa a "terrorist organization".
The POTUS tried to blame the militant far-left anti-fascists for the protests happening across the country following the May 25 death of George Floyd. The 46-year-old unarmed African-American was killed after a Minneapolis officer knelt on his neck for more than eight minutes. "It's Antifa, it's a lot of radical left bad people. And they've got to be taught that you can't do this," Trump said on Sunday, May 31. However, his push has already met resistance given its unconstitutional nature. “The First Amendment would not allow a movement to be designated as ‘terrorist’ based on what people believe. Without an armed attack on noncombatant civilians, a charge of terrorism would fail,” said Shaw.
Explaining further, the professor said, “My response, though, is qualified by the fact that this Administration does not operate in the manner that previous administrations operate, and executive power, increasingly concentrated in recent years under Republican and Democratic administrations, has been exercised in greater degrees and pursuant to presidential action without consultation with other executive actors. The title ‘Terrorist Organization’ is more accurately the ‘Foreign Terrorist Organization’ (FTO). The designation is usually made by the State Department under Section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). The designation involves a number of governmental agencies, such as the State and Treasury. The Designation originates in the Bureau of Counterterrorism within State and involves a waiting period, preparation of a detailed administrative record, consultation with Treasury and the Attorney General, Congressional notification, publication in the Federal Register, and the targeted organization may have a right to judicial review by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.”
Shaw also mentioned that to officially declare some group or organization as terrorists, it must be a foreign organization, and engaged in terrorist activity. While Antifa is not a group even - it’s a movement.
“The designated organization must be a foreign organization, and it must be engaged in terrorist activity, threatening the security of US nationals or U.S. economic interests. Terrorist activity is defined in section 212 (a)(3)(B) of the INA. The State Department list of organizations designated as ‘terrorist’ does not include any US groups,” stated Shaw.
“Antifa, nominally derived from ‘anti-fascist’ is not a foreign organization, and hard to identify as an organization at all. Instead, it is a movement of autonomous leftist activist anti-fascist groups. There is no finding of the usual hallmarks of terrorist activities- targeting noncombatants for violent and deadly attacks,” he told MEA WorldWide.
Shaw further explained how the designation “of anti-fascist activists may raise First Amendment issues in addition to the failure to meet statutory requirements for the designation.”
“It appears to target activists for their beliefs, and not because of the violent actions they have taken. If fascism is defined as authoritarian, the dictatorial exercise of power with right-wing, ultranationalist, and racist character, ideologically opposed activists should be protected in their oppositional beliefs. The First Amendment protects speech and beliefs.
“Those engaged in violent attacks, using weapons of mass destruction or high capacity weapons capable of inflicting mass casualties, can be charged with terrorism. Designation of groups, even if motivated by hatred, would conflict with the First Amendment,” Shaw noted.
“In sum, President Trump, who regularly believes that he can unilaterally decide and take actions by executive order or otherwise, in all probability cannot designate Antifa as a terrorist group. Moreover, even aside from definitional problems, the statutory requirements required to designate an organization to be ‘terrorist’ do not appear to be met here. Finally, the First Amendment would conflict with designating Antifa as a ‘terrorist organization’ because it is neither an organization nor does it satisfy the definition of a terrorist,” Shaw concluded.