Are You Anti-Fascist? Then MAGA Would Call You a Domestic Terrorist

But so were the American Revolutionaries.

Earlier this month, eight anti-ICE protestors were sentenced to a combined 450 years in federal prison after being convicted of “providing material support to terrorists, riot, and conspiracy to use an explosive.” The group of protestors staged a noise demonstration outside of the Prairieland ICE detention facility in Alvarado, Texas on July 4th, 2025. Benjamin Song, a former U.S. Marine Corps reservist, was given the longest sentence of 100 years, as he was the one — and only — protestor to fire a rifle and strike an ICE agent in the neck (non-fatally). Six other defendants were given sentences between 50 and 70 years in federal prison. Most egregiously, Daniel Sanchez Estrada — who was not even present at the protest — was sentenced to 30 years for “conspiracy to conceal documents.” On July 1st, a ninth person convicted was sentenced to 50 years.

Why is this group of protestors getting such absurdly long sentences? Not even the January 6 Capitol rioters — including the leader of the Proud Boys — received such harsh judgments, and none were deemed domestic terrorists in the court of law. One even got hired to work in the Defense Department. So, what’s going on here?

On September 22, 2025, the White House issued an Executive Order designating antifa as a domestic terrorist organization and authorizing “all applicable authorities to investigate, disrupt, and dismantle any and all illegal operations.” Three days later, National Security Presidential Memorandum 7 (NSPM-7), Countering Domestic Terrorism and Organized Political Violence, was published. NSPM-7 outlines the administration’s assessment of the domestic security threat posed by a “pattern of violent and terroristic activities under the umbrella of self-described “anti-fascism.” It goes on to enumerate the threatening values held by “anti-fascists”:

anti-Americanism, anti-capitalism, and anti-Christianity; support for the overthrow of the United States Government; extremism on migration, race, and gender; and hostility towards those who hold traditional American views on family, religion, and morality

In justifying a need to ramp up investigations and prosecutions against individuals and organizations who may be sympathetic to the “anti-fascist” cause, NSPM-7 makes direct reference to the assassination of Charlie Kirk (which took place less than two weeks before the EO was published), as well as assassination attempts on Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and, of course, on Trump himself. Notably, the assassination of Democrat Minnesota Senator Melissa Hortman and the fire bombing of Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro’s home were not mentioned. Nor were the many, many examples of political violence perpetrated by white supremacists, toxic masculinity extremists, and other alt-right ideologists.

Let it be known that antifa is not an official organization. Most descriptions agree that, at best, it can be characterized as a decentralized, ideological movement that sympathizes with leftist causes. According to an investigative report published by the Congressional Research Service in 2020, antifa “lacks a unifying organizational structure or detailed ideology.” Furthermore, the authors clarify that no organization can be described as a “domestic terrorist organization” due to a number of First Amendment concerns and the fact that no such designation exists under U.S. law. Supposedly, no one can be “charged with committing an act of domestic terrorism under current federal law.”

Returning to the case of the nine sentenced protestors in Texas, the fact that prosecutors were able to secure a charge of “providing material support to terrorists” is extremely alarming. In the initial indictment, the federal government claimed that the protestors were involved in the “North Texas Antifa Cell” — a claim that defendants and the government’s cooperating witnesses deny. During trial arguments, lawyers used the fact that the protestors were dressed in all black clothing, communicated through Signal, and possessed “insurrectionary materials” to support the accusation that a terrorist cell was planning an all out assault on the Prairieland detention facility. When did matching attire and communication apps become definitive metrics for terrorism? And what were these insurrectionary materials? A box of anarchist zines and a leftist book club.

The vagueness of the Justice Department’s definition of “anti-fascist” is a purposeful obfuscation meant to grant wide permissions to the legal and criminal enforcement arms of the state to go after anyone they deem to be too critical. Is anyone who voted for a Democratic Socialist candidate this primary season engaging in “anti-capitalism?” Are college students focusing on LGBTQ+ studies engaged in “gender extremism?” When every leftist ideology, no matter how radical, can be swept under a demonized anti-fascist umbrella, anyone can become a target. The administration knows this. The doling out of decades-long sentences to protestors is a clear message to other citizens engaging in anti-Trump political organizing: fall inline, or else.

Although the case of the Prairieland 9 is the first time that terrorism charges have been successfully brought against alleged “antifa” members, the vigorous enthusiasm of the administration’s celebrations after the convictions suggest they will not be the last. According to Trump’s 2027 budget request to Congress, the FBI has already created the NSPM-7 Joint Mission Center (JMC) to “proactively identify networks and prosecute domestic terrorist and related criminal actors.” Other than the 2027 budget request and one FBI statement, there has been virtually no mention of this new task force or its operations.

As the 250th anniversary of the inception of the United States of America has come and gone, I find it deeply, soul-crushingly ironic that the political movement that brought Donald Trump to power is so antithetical to the vision of the founders. Followers of MAGA tout themselves as the authentic successors of historical American patriots and the sole group capable of accurately carrying out (what they interpret as) their vision of building a white, Christian nation. In the run-up to July 4th, the White House was referencing the founders and key moments in American history — such as the drafting of the Declaration of Independence — as a source of pride.

The Tea Party was the culmination of a resistance movement throughout British America against the Tea Act, which had been passed by the British Parliament in 1773. (Credit Ivan-96 via istockphoto)

Of course, MAGA selectively remembers and revises the past to serve its own agenda and build a web of propaganda. The truth is that the ideologies — and those who held them — that led America toward its independence were significantly progressive for their time. Though colonial British rule over America isn’t typically described as fascist, the reign of King George III was certainly despotic. And rebelling against your ruler, let alone your monarch, was by no means a conservative position.

If MAGA followers were pushed back in time to witness the events surrounding the American Revolution, they would disparage the protestors as “radical left, the Marxists, the anarchists, the agitators, the looters.” Would the Sons of Liberty have been charged with terrorism after engaging in the illegal act of dumping over 300 chests of tea into the water during the Boston Tea Party? After all, they were disguised as Native Americans, which surely meant that they were “providing [their] body as camouflage,” which is proof of supporting terrorists. Thomas Paine’s Common Sense would certainly have been labeled as “insurrectionist material,” as well as Samuel Adams’ writing endorsing the right to bear arms and protect oneself against “the violence of oppression.” The American Revolution was a violent, radical, forceful break from the British Empire — a move that inspired other people to revolt against their oppressive rulers.

Any pride or nostalgia that MAGA feels regarding the birth of America and the Founding Fathers is the result of revisionist history propagated by the conservative right. This convenient amnesia allows the administration and its loyalists to claim inheritance rights to America when, in fact, they could not be more contradictory to the ideals and values the Founders embodied when laying the foundations of the American experiment. The publication of the NSPM-7 and EO — and their subsequent weaponization — is a direct attack against the First Amendment right of freedom of speech and peaceful assembly. In a time of severe political turmoil where basic constitutional rights are being debated and the ruling class is dripping in corruption, the right to protest and spread dissenting information is crucial.