National Defense

State Department Willing To Put Stranglehold On More Violent Leftist Groups, Rubio Says

Gage Skidmore/Wikimedia Commons

WASHINGTON — Violent leftists around the world could continue facing U.S. terrorism sanctions if they follow in Antifa’s footsteps, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday.

The State Department is willing to designate any groups similar to, or aligned with, the Antifa movement as foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs) if they threaten Americans’ safety, Rubio told the Daily Caller News Foundation at a press Q&A. Rubio’s agency designated four groups from Germany, Greece and Italy in November, creating a litany of financial and immigration consequences.

“Groups involved in firebombing — if there’s anybody involved in, you know, activities such as that that could potentially inspire or lead to violence in the United States, we’re going to designate them,” Rubio said. “So sure, if you have any you want to suggest, I will look at them.”

The State Department’s FTO list, which includes groups such as Hamas and ISIS, makes it punishable by up to 20 years in prison to give funding or other “material support” to the sanctioned organization under federal law. It also makes anyone involved in the group ineligible to enter or remain in the U.S. and allows victims of its violence to sue for damages in federal court.

The four leftist groups currently sanctioned — Antifa Ost, Armed Proletarian Justice, International Revolutionary Front and Revolutionary Class Self Defense — are linked to a web of attacks or foiled plots across Europe involving hammers, explosives and even a fatal shooting, the DCNF previously reported.

President Donald Trump’s administration has expanded the FTO list by 25 groups total, while the Biden-Harris administration added just four. The new additions also include drug cartels and gangs such as MS-13, Tren de Aragua and the Sinaloa Cartel, as well as Islamic Houthi rebels in Yemen.