A report this week from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has shone a light on the shocking reality of escalating domestic terrorism in the Unites States.
Much of that criminal activity is aimed at federal law enforcement, particularly ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) personnel, the report said. But ordinary law-abiding citizens are also suffering the depredations of domestic terrorists.
“Criminal organizations in Mexico have begun offering thousands of dollars for the murder of federal law enforcement,” the DHS report explained. It went on to detail how Mexican criminals, in coordination with extremist groups linked to “Antifa” (anti-fascist groups), have placed “bounties” on ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection personnel.
These criminal networks have issued explicit instructions to U.S.-based gangs to monitor, harass, and assassinate federal agents, offering significant financial incentives for those who carry out these heinous acts.
The report detailed how cartels have disseminated a structured bounty program to incentivize violence against federal officers, as in the following offers:
-$2,000 for gathering intelligence or doxxing agents.
-$5,000–$10,000 for kidnapping or non-lethal assaults on standard ICE/CBP officers.
– Up to $50,000 for the assassination of high-ranking officials.
“These criminal networks are not just resisting the rule of law. They are waging an organized campaign of terror against the men and women who protect our borders and communities,” said DHS Secretary Kristi Noem in a recent White House roundtable meeting to which media reporters and independent journalists had been invited.
The journalists, including Andy Ngo, editor of The Post Millennial, and Jack Posobiec, political activist and television correspondent, have been covering the Antifa riots in Portland and Seattle.
The two described in detail their research and conclusions to the assembled guests, demonstrating the link between Antifa and foreign actors and foreign funding. They also admonished media reporters in the room for falling short of their duty to report truthfully on the subject.
A Washington Post article headlined, “Trump Builds Case for Deploying National Guard to Chicago,” summed up the meeting, emphasizing that “the president said he would pursue designating Antifa a ‘foreign terrorist organization”—not merely a domestic terrorist group.
The distinction is crucial, legal experts say. Although domestic terrorists who are U.S. citizens can be prosecuted, the government can’t deploy the military against them, harness aggressive surveillance tools, or freeze their bank accounts. But if Antifa is deemed a foreign terrorist organization, citizens who support them materially can be prosecuted with the government’s harshest counter-terrorism laws.
‘No Different Than Foreign Terrorist Groups’
At one point during the roundtable discussion, Attorney General Pam Bondi said, “Just like we did with cartels, we’re going to take this same approach with Antifa.”
Secretary Noem took the comparison with criminal networks even further, calling Antifa “just as sophisticated as “MS-13, the Islamic State, Hezbollah, and Hamas.”
“Our agents are facing ambushes, drone surveillance, and death threats, all because they dare to enforce the laws passed by Congress,” Noem said. “We will not back down from these threats, and every criminal, terrorist, and illegal alien will face American justice.”
The DHS Secretary called on sanctuary state and local leaders to “cease policies that embolden criminals” and called on the public “to report suspicious activities—such as rooftop surveillance or organized protests blocking federal operations—to the DHS Tip Line at 1-866-DHS-2-ICE or via the ICE website.”
Trump’s move in branding Antifa a terrorist movement in a new White House Executive Order sent a harsh message to the group and its supporters: Once you incite violence against law enforcement through attacks on police precincts, courthouses, officers and political leaders, you cross a legal line. That is not protest. That is terrorism.
“The order represents the Trump Administration’s most comprehensive definition yet” of the Antifa movement, “and offers some insight into how it will seek to prosecute people associated with the group,” a Politico article said.
“Antifa is a militarist, anarchist enterprise that explicitly calls for the overthrow of the United States Government, law enforcement authorities, and our system of law,” the president’s order reads. “It uses illegal means to organize and execute a campaign of violence and terrorism nationwide to accomplish these goals.”
Trump’s Executive Order says that Antifa actions include “armed standoffs with law enforcement, organized riots, violent assaults on ICE and other law enforcement officers, and routine doxxing (publishing private information online including photos and family details) of political figures and activists among other forms of harassment.”
Trump’s EO came on the heels of the murder of renowned conservative activist Charlie Kirk, with the president ordering a crackdown on left-wing groups and directing government agencies to “investigate, disrupt, and dismantle any and all illegal operations” initiated by Antifa.
The idea of labeling Antifa a terrorist organization took root during Trump’s first presidential term, but the president was blocked by DOJ resistance from carrying out the policy.
In reintroducing the idea earlier this month, Trump announced on his Truth Social site that he would be “designating Antifa a sick, dangerous, radical left disaster as a major terrorist organization,” and that organizations funding Antifa should be investigated.
Beneath Antifa’s ‘Leaderless’ Façade, Tight Coordination
Critics scoffed at the designation of Antifa as a terror organization, arguing that the group is leaderless, decentralized and consists of random individuals with a diverse range of agendas, as opposed to being a cohesive organization.
Ongoing investigations, however, confirm that Portland Antifa groups demonstrate a significant measure of internal coordination. They have provided abundant logistical support and “protest supplies” to anti-government rioters in these cities, including megaphones, literature, food, water and lodging.
Antifa groups have also carried out “doxxing” of federal agents’, and have staged on-the-ground interference to shield cartel members from deportation.
Chillingly, “in neighborhoods like Chicago’s Pilsen and Little Village, Antifa gang members affiliated with groups such as the Latin Kings have deployed “spotters” on rooftops equipped with firearms and radio communications,” a DHS report said.
These individuals track ICE and CBP movements and relay the information to gang members, enabling violent ambushes against federal agents during routine law enforcement actions.
“Protest is not enough, we need direct action!” is one of the rallying cries of Antifa protestors. “’Direct action’ is code language for ‘Resort to violence,’” explained Peter Schweizer of the Government Accountability Institute, in a Fox News appearance.
Schweizer said that the most effective way to discover who is funding domestic terror groups is for Congress to subpoena their tax records. “Until that happens,” he added, “our efforts continue to be stymied because these groups are very practiced at hiding the sources of their funding.”
Trumps Orders National Guard to Portland
Last month, after Antifa-led government riots continued to rage in Portland, Oregon, targeting not only law enforcement but businesses and commercial entities, President Trump announced that he would send National Guard troops to the city to restore law and order there.
Portland’s Mayor Keith Wilson, Portland Governor Tina Kotek and other city and state leaders forcefully objected. They went to court to fight the order, maintaining that Portland must remain a “sanctuary” city, and that deployment of the National Guard was “unneeded, unwanted and un-American.”
On Oct. 5, U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut temporarily blocked the deployment of National Guard troops in Portland, setting a trial date for the Oregon v. Trump lawsuit.
A White House website published a report highlighting the rising crime and collapse of law and order in Portland, portraying the city as a stark reflection of the crime-plagued conditions seen in other Democratic-run “sanctuary” cities.
The report slammed the media for downplaying Antifa-linked violence in Chicago, Portland and other cities by describing riots and arson as “mostly peaceful” protests.
In crafting this narrative, the media has actively buried or omitted coverage of attacks against federal agents and police stations, the report said. Their reports routinely minimize the violence, or cast it as spontaneous, erupting from the grassroots, or morally justified.
Meanwhile, amid the ongoing siege by Antifa factions, dozens have been arrested and charged with serious crimes such as arson, assaulting federal officers, and resisting arrest.
“It’s apparent that what’s happening in Portland isn’t mere protest; it’s premeditated anarchy — the latest chapter of violence in Portland at the hands of Antifa and the radical left,” the report continued.
“Since early June, Antifa militants have laid siege to the ICE field office in south Portland. The terrorists have violently breached the facility by using a stop sign as a battering ram. They hurled explosives and projectiles, burned American flags, viciously assaulted, attacked, and injured officers, doxed officers, berated neighbors, and even rolled out a guillotine.”
“For years, an Antifa-led anarchy has turned Portland into a wasteland of firebombs, beatings, and brazen attacks on federal officers and property — the mainstream media remains in shameful denial about the radical left’s reign of terror there and in other cities,” the report lashed out.
Portland’s Citizens Speak Out
“Portland’s own citizens — betrayed by their leaders — are sounding the alarm, demanding action while the Fake News turns a blind eye,” the article said, citing comments from Portland citizens bemoaning the turmoil in the city.
“It’s like a war zone. There are times I’ve had to have a gas mask on inside my own home,” shared a resident near the ICE facility in south Portland, referring to tear gas used to quell the riots.
“115 days of craziness. I only come out during the day. You see all the black-covered Antifa people aren’t here. They come with the night,” noted another Portland resident.
“Yesterday morning, I was broken into again for the tenth time,” said a business owner in downtown Portland. “We need help here and something needs to be done. We’ve been struggling for a long time.”
“For those people who do not want federal troops in our streets, I would say start clamoring for your local government to protect our property, our businesses, and our lives,” says a Portland man who represents retailers ravaged by crime in the city.
City Under Siege
Eyewitness reports and video clips have captured hours of turbulent chaos during one night last week, where “clouds of tear gas painted the night sky, punctuated by the sharp cracks of crowd-control police munitions echoing through Oregon’s streets.”
During the night, Black Hawk helicopters flew overhead as federal agents dispersed hundreds of masked protesters with pepper balls and arrests. The crowds soon re-emerged under the glow of streetlights and clashed raucously with counter-protestors.
After federal police finally brought the chaos under control, Antifa activists vowed to press on — this time by staging a city-wide “protest” unclothed, on bicycles, a crude gesture meant to spit in the face of civic authority.
It was not the first such sordid spectacle this group has staged; in addition to inciting riots and chaos, they have made a habit of flaunting their contempt for civilized norms in public displays of indecency.
The organization is nevertheless being protected by judges like the aforementioned Judge Karin Immergut who blocked Trump from deploying the National Guard to Portland, claiming, with a straight face, that the Antifa protests were “mostly peaceful.”
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The Anti-Fascist Handbook: An Invitation to Anarchy
In the 2017, Rutgers assistant professor Mark Bray, often dubbed Dr. Antifa for his self-styled leadership of the Antifa movement, published “The Anti-Fascist Handbook.”
The book makes it clear in its very first sentence that “anti-fascists don’t wait for a fascist threat to become violent before acting to shut it down, physically if necessary.”
The author urges swift militancy against any hint of fascism. “Fascism is not to be debated, it is to be destroyed,” Bray exhorts.
He argues that it is “strategically dangerous” to wait for ‘textbook versions’ of Hitler to appear, and instead encourages all anti-fascists to act against any threat that they perceive as dangerous or oppressive before the danger has a chance to metastasize.
In other words, there is no objective test for who counts as a “fascist” according to Professor Bray. The term, by “Dr. Antifa’s” own admission, is purely subjective; every anti-fascist is free to decide for himself when “pre-emptive” violence is warranted — an open invitation to anarchy and the collapse of law and order.
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Another Assassination Attempt Against President Trump?
News that the Secret Service uncovered a suspicious “hunting stand” this week in Palm Beach International Airport, with a direct sight line to Trump’s Air Force One exit ramp, has sparked suspicions that a third assassination attempt against President Trump might have been in the wings.
The finding of the “hunting stand” wedged in the trees in an area where, ironically, there are no animals to hunt for miles around, heightened fears that it was used—or meant to be used—as a sniper’s platform.
The incident reinforced the administration’s view that the United States is facing a serious and escalating domestic-terror threat.
Palm Beach International Airport (PBI) is the primary airport President Trump uses whenever he travels to and from Mar-a-Lago, his primary Florida residence. It is on the same street and just a few miles from where he lives.
Whenever he travels to Mar-a-Lago on Air Force One, the plane lands at PBI. Trump then takes a short motorcade across the Intracoastal Waterway straight to his residence. That drive usually takes under 10 minutes, and local roads are briefly shut down to facilitate the trip.
The “hunting stand’s” location is precisely along the approach and exit route used for every Trump arrival. In other words, the “stand” had a direct line of sight to the door at the stop of the stairs on AF1 where Trump enters and exits the plane.
The distance is less than 1,000 feet, news reports say.
Evidently seeking to minimize the impression of an attempted or planned assassination, an NBC article claimed Trump’s plane does not “normally” park there. Yet many news photos between 2017-2025 show AF1 using that exact location for every Palm Beach arrival.
‘Hunting Story’ An Impossible Stretch
Casting doubt on the hunting story, the “stand” was lodged into a roadside tree just east of PBI Airport where just a few trees line the street corner. Not by any stretch could this spot be called a wooded area, a park, or even a “nature preserve” that might qualify as “hunting grounds.”
“The whole area is urban-industrial, fenced all around, surveilled federal-adjacent land,” writes Florida attorney and columnist Jeff Childers. “There is no plausible “hunting” rationale— not for deer, not for birds, not for iguanas, not for anything. You’d have to ignore scads of FAA and TSA laws and county ordinances to believe someone innocently built a deer stand under the approach path to a runway used by Air Force One.”
The Secret Service spotted the platform during “routine advance security preparations” prior to Trump’s weekend arrival and the FBI is now leading an investigation into the discovery. FBI Director Kash Patel said the hunting stand/sniper platform has not yet been connected to any individual.
“No individuals were located at the scene. The FBI has since taken the investigatory lead, flying in resources to collect all evidence from the scene, and deploying our cell phone analytics capabilities,” Patel said.
The FBI director said the platform appeared to have been set up “months ago,” which raises questions about why it wasn’t spotted earlier. The stand was dismantled and was flown to an FBI lab, FBI deputy director Dan Bongino told Fox News.
PBI airport is located less than a mile north of Trump’s golf club in West Palm Beach, which was the site of an attempted assassination against the president last year.
Prosecutors say Ryan Routh — who was found guilty last month in the assassination plot — pointed a rifle from the golf club’s tree line, but Secret Service agents spotted him and opened fire before Routh could squeeze the trigger.
As is well-known, Trump survived a separate assassination attempt just two months earlier, when a bullet grazed his ear during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
The security breaches prompted a scathing critique of the Secret Service, which instead of launching an overhaul of the agency, got away with suspending one or two high-ranking officials and several medium-level agents.
