A federal grand jury indicted two people, who prosecutors accused of belonging to an “Antifa cell,” on terrorism charges in connection with their alleged participation in a July attack on an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Texas.
The prosecution is the first federal terrorism case brought as part of the Trump administration’s crackdown on antifascist activists and left-wing ideology.
“As @POTUS has made clear, Antifa is a left-wing terrorist organization,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a X post touting the indictment. “They will be prosecuted as such.”
The indictment, issued Wednesday and unsealed Thursday, charges Zachary Evetts and Cameron Arnold — who also goes by Autumn Hill — with providing material support for terrorism and attempting to murder federal law enforcement officers.
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“We are executing under President Trump’s new authorities at record speed,” FBI Director Kash Patel said in a statement on X. “To date, the FBI has made over 20 arrests tied to this case and related Antifa networks. No one gets to harm law enforcement. Not on our watch.”
Prosecutors for the case recounted that a group of roughly a dozen individuals began shooting fireworks and spray painting cars and structures on the night of July 4 at an Alvarado, Texas, immigration facility. One of the members of the group opened fire on officers responding to the scene, shooting one in the neck.
According to the indictment, Evetts and Arnold had been planning the attack with members of the group over group chats in the days prior, sharing a map of the area and the logistics of potential security cameras and police stations.
But neither of them fired the shots that injured the officer — detectives traced the rifles used in the shooting back to ex-Marine Benjamin Hanil Song, who has been charged with attempted murder of a federal officer. Another 14 people are facing charges in relation to the shooting, including some who prosecutors say attempted to help Song evade arrest.
The goal of the group, according to the indictment, “was to destroy U.S. government property and commit acts dangerous to human life intended to influence” U.S. policy.”
Antifa has previously been categorized by media outlets as a more of an ideology than an organized group, but Wednesday’s indictment described Antifa as a “militant enterprise made up of networks of individuals and small groups” who have “espoused insurrection” and propose violent attacks against the U.S government.
“We can, and will, track you down,” FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino said in a X post of the indictment. “It’s only a matter of time.”
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