US designates four Antifa-linked groups as ‘Foreign Terrorist Organizations’

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Nov. 13 that the State Department is designating as Foreign Terrorist Organizations and Specifically Designated Global Terrorists four Europe-based groups that the department says are affiliated with Antifa networks.

“The United States will continue using all available tools to protect our nation from these anti-American, anti-capitalist, and anti-Christian terrorist groups,” Rubio stated on X.

According to FOX News, the administration’s move marks the first time the U.S. has applied foreign-terrorism designations to Antifa-linked groups. 

The four organizations — operating in Germany, Italy, and Greece — have been tied to several shootings, bombings, and other politically motivated attacks, according to a State Department statement. The designations are scheduled to take effect Nov. 20. 

When the designations become active, the U.S. will require financial institutions to freeze any assets linked to the groups, bar members from entering the country, and allow federal prosecutors to pursue criminal charges against anyone under U.S. jurisdiction who knowingly provides material support to the groups.

The decision follows President Donald Trump’s pledge during an Oct. 8 White House roundtable on left-wing violence to crack down on Antifa-aligned networks. Trump asked Rubio at the time to review options for applying foreign-terrorist labels. In September, the administration labeled Antifa a domestic terrorist organization.

According to a department fact sheet offered as evidence for the designations, one of the groups, Germany’s Antifa Ost, has been linked to a series of assaults between 2018 and 2023 against individuals it labeled “fascists” or part of Germany’s “right-wing scene.” Hungary added Antifa Ost to its national terrorist list in September after authorities accused members of violent attacks in Budapest.

The department described Italy’s International Revolutionary Front — also known as the Informal Anarchist Federation — as a “militant anarchist group” that has claimed responsibility since 2003 for “threats of violence, bombs, and letter bombs against political and economic institutions.” 

Two other designated groups, Armed Proletarian Justice and Revolutionary Class Self-Defense, operate in Greece and have repeatedly attacked government buildings, the department said.

Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., who urged Rubio to impose the designations, praised him in a social media post, calling his announcement a “major step in our fight against Antifa’s terror network.” 

“I was proud to work with the administration to make it happen,” Schmitt added. “This is a huge deal.”

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