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Wednesday, September 11, 2019 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Attacks by U.S. extremists lead to push for anti-terror laws
By Andrew Selsky
Associated Press
SALEM (AP) 4 A white
man opens fire at a Walmart
in El Paso, Texas, target-
ing Mexicans and killing 22
people. Another man kills 11
Jewish worshippers at a syna-
gogue in Pittsburgh.
The two mass shootings
and a presidential tweet put
a spotlight on the idea of
<domestic terrorism,= adding
momentum to a debate about
whether such attacks should
be classified and tried in the
same way as crimes against
America by foreign extrem-
ist groups and their support-
ers. A Republican senator and
a Democrat in the House of
Representatives are drafting
bills to do that while some
Republicans call for a left-
wing group to be designated
a terrorist organization.
<Domestic terrorism is in
our backyard and we need
to call it and treat it under
the law the same as other
forms of terrorism,= said
U.S. Sen. Martha McSally,
an Arizona Republican who
intends to introduce legisla-
tion when Congress returns in
September.
McSally9s proposal would
allow federal law enforce-
ment to charge suspects with
acts of domestic terror and
add punishments for those
crimes, including the death
penalty.
Rep. Adam Schiff, a
California Democrat, intro-
duced legislation on August
16 that he says is a <very high
priority.=
<The goal is to put domes-
tic terrorism at the same
level of priority as ISIS- or
al-Qaida-inspired terrorism,
since Americans on American
soil now are just as likely, if
not more likely, to die at the
hand of a domestic terrorist
motivated by some hateful
ideology like white suprem-
acy,= Schiff said in a tele-
phone interview.
S e p a r a t e l y,
two
Republican senators are call-
ing for an anti-fascist move-
ment known as antifa to be
designated as a domestic ter-
rorist organization. The push
comes after clashes between
white supremacists and antifa
in Portland, Oregon, which
drew a tweet from President
Trump suggesting domes-
tic terrorism designation
for antifa but not the white
supremacists. Such a designa-
tion does not currently exist.
While a push to rethink
what should be deemed ter-
rorism gains some momen-
tum, it has sparked concerns
about infringement of con-
stitutional rights. It9s also not
clear whether the debate will
be embraced in a bipartisan
way, though McSally said this
week that her bill has received
<a lot of positive feedback ...
from both sides of the aisle.=
Schiff said he hopes for
<bipartisan support for an
effort to put the full weight
of the federal government
behind the prosecution of
people committing these
hateful acts of domestic mass
terror.=
Meanwhile, Republican
Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas is
working on <legal mecha-
nisms= that would enable
domestic terrorist organiza-
tions to be treated like those
on the State Department9s list
of foreign extremist groups,
his spokeswoman Maria
Jeffrey said in an email.
Cruz and Sen. Bill
Cassidy, R-Louisiana, intro-
duced a resolution on July
18 condemning antifa, and
calling for it to be desig-
nated as a domestic terrorist
organization.
As antifa activists prepared
to square off against far-right
demonstrators in Portland,
Oregon, on Aug. 17, President
Donald Trump tweeted that
<major consideration is being
given to naming ANTIFA
an 8ORGANIZATION of
TERROR.9=
Currently, only foreign
groups can be labeled terror-
ist organizations. The U.S.
State Department maintains
that list, currently compris-
ing 68 groups 4 none of
which is white supremacist. It
is a crime for a person in the
United States to knowingly
provide <material support or
resources= to a foreign terror-
ist organization.
S e n . J e f f M e r k l e y,
D-Oregon, said he doesn9t
believe Congress should
enable the executive branch
to designate groups as domes-
tic terrorists.
<I wouldn9t trust this
administration to exercise
such power in an unbiased
and judicious manner,=
Merkley said.
I wouldn’t trust this
administration to exercise
such power in an unbiased
and judicious manner
— Sen. Jeff Merkley
The Anti-Defamation
League says antifa hasn9t
been accused of any murders,
and that there is no com-
parison between the loosely
organized movement and the
white supremacist groups
it sometimes clashes with.
Antifa uses <unacceptable
tactics= but rejects racism,
while white supremacists
use more extreme violence
to intimidate minorities, the
ADL said.
Schiff denounced Trump9s
tweet as <a disservice to our
efforts to combat domestic
mass terror.=
<I see it as the same
destructive political postur-
ing we9ve come to expect
from the president, that would
argue white supremacists9
hate is not the problem, antifa
is the problem,= Schiff said.
Mary McCord, who
used to lead the Justice
D e p a r t m e n t 9s N a t i o n a l
Security Division, said label-
ing domestic groups as ter-
rorist organizations would
infringe on First Amendment
rights such as freedom of
expression. Instead, she advo-
cates making domestic terror-
ism a federal crime, which
would enable prosecution for
providing material support.
Such support could include
providing funds, a safe haven
or weapons.
The most common inter-
national terrorism charge is
providing material support,
accounting for nearly half of
federal terrorism-related pros-
ecutions since Sept. 11, 2001,
McCord said.
Schiff said his bill would
allow the prosecution of pro-
viding material support to a
domestic terrorist.
Jeanne Theoharis, a
political science professor at
Brooklyn College who has
written several books on civil
rights, worries about such a
provision.
<What material support
does is allow for going after
people whose beliefs and
associations are well outside
the mainstream,= Theoharis
said. <It provides a way for
the government to go after
people whose politics they
don9t like.=
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