Copyright Joliet, IL Patch
The president says he wants to crack down on political violence – but some claim he's trying to create a "secret watchlist of Americans." NEWARK, NJ — A protest against President Donald Trump’s controversial security memo on “domestic terrorism” is expected to take place in New Jersey’s largest city next week. According to activists, the rally – which is being organized as a “public hearing” – will take place outside the FBI complex on the corner of McCarter Highway North and Centre Place in Newark at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 12. A permit with the city has been secured for the event. Learn more here. The goal? To demand that local governments and police in New Jersey refuse to comply with National Security Presidential Memorandum 7. Issued in September, the presidential memo says that “heinous assassinations” and other acts of political violence in the United States have dramatically increased in recent years. To combat the violence, Trump is calling for federal law enforcement authorities and other agencies like the IRS to work together and disrupt its potential sources – including nonprofits, their donors and individual activists. Trump’s NSPM-7 memo calls for the National Joint Terrorism Task Force and its local offices to come up with a nationwide crackdown strategy. There are currently about 200 of these task forces across the country, including at least one in each of the FBI’s 56 field offices, with hundreds of state, local and federal agencies also participating. “Whether it be going back to the riots that started with Black Lives Matter and all the way through to the Antifa riots, the attacks on ICE officers, the doxxing campaigns and now the political assassinations – these are not lone, isolated events,” White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller said. “This is part of an organized campaign of radical left terrorism,” Miller said. FBI Director Kash Patel said the FBI would “follow the money,” adding that law enforcement would “root out this new evil that is perpetrating our criminal activities across our societies.” The memo was issued just days after the president signed an executive order that designated Antifa as a “domestic terrorist organization” – even though the loosely organized “anti-fascist” movement doesn’t have a distinct leader, membership list or structure. See Related: What Is Antifa: 5 Things To Know About The Movement Thousands of nonprofits from across the nation have been speaking out against the NSPM-7 memo, alleging that Trump is attempting to lump together political violence, terrorism and constitutionally protected free speech to go after what he calls “the enemy within.” The Brennan Center for Justice said many of the incidents cited in the memo are cherry-picked to put the spotlight on “left-wing violence,” while ignoring violence that doesn’t fit the narrative. For example, the memo specifically calls out the shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, the killing of United HealthCare CEO Brian Thompson and the attempted assassinations of Donald Trump. However, it doesn’t mention the January 6 attack on the Capitol in 2021; a 2022 mass shooting at a New York grocery store that was motivated by white supremacist beliefs, or the deadly shootings of two Democratic Minnesota state lawmakers and their spouses earlier this year. Meanwhile, the memo opens the doors to a wide interpretation of who is – or is not – a potential source of political violence, the Brennan Center for Justice says: “Building on the Antifa executive order, which already targets a broad range of political speech, NSPM-7 directs federal agencies to prioritize investigations of a swath of identities and ideologies that it depicts as falling under “the umbrella of self-described ‘anti-fascism.’” These include “anti-Americanism, anti-capitalism, and anti-Christianity; support for the overthrow of the United States government; extremism on migration, race, and gender; and hostility towards those who hold traditional American views on family, religion, and morality.” This breathtakingly broad list easily encompasses everyone from labor organizers, socialists, many libertarians, those who criticize Christianity, pro-immigration groups, anti-ICE protesters, and racial justice and transgender activists, to anyone who holds views that the administration considers to be “anti-American.” Other advocates have decried the memo an attempt to create a “secret watchlist of Americans” that could have an even worse impact on civil rights than the USA Patriot Act, which was signed under former president George Bush in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. “On its face, NSPM-7 is chilling to read,” the ACLU says. “If anyone needed proof that ‘terrorism’ and ‘political violence’ are slippery and fraught categories subject to political, ideological and racial manipulation and bias – well, this is it,” the nonprofit said. While the memo is troubling, there are many constitutional safeguards in place that stand as a shield against Trump’s orders, including the First Amendment, the Fourth Amendment right to due process, and rights to equal protection under the 14th Amendment, the ACLU adds. “A key thing to know is that the presidential memorandum does not create any new federal powers or crimes,” the ACLU continues. “The president cannot rewrite the Constitution by memo or otherwise,” the nonprofit says. “No matter what the president says or tries to do through NSPM-7, the First Amendment constrains what federal agencies can do when it comes to punishing groups and people for exercising their rights to free speech, peaceful protest, and supporting causes by making donations. It also safeguards against viewpoint-based government discrimination, coercion and retaliation.” Critics of NSPM-7 also include the No Complicity NJ Committee, which is organizing the Nov. 12 protest in Newark. Bob Witanek, one of the group’s founders, said the memo falsely and secretly labels activists as “domestic terrorists.” He also said the group is concerned about the use of artificial intelligence to accomplish the Trump administration’s goals, including technology produced by Palantir Technologies, a Colorado-based company that specializes in data mining. The company is co-founded by Peter Thiel, a campaign donor to Trump and other prominent Republican politicians. New Jersey’s state pension funds currently invest in Palantir stock. Read More: New Tech Tracks Immigrants For ICE, Protesters Tell NJ To Dump Company’s Stock “Our hearing on Nov. 12 could very well be the first organized action to denounce NSPM7 in New Jersey,” Witanek said. “Hopefully the powers that be will recognize the danger and do everything possible to keep New Jersey names off the NSPM7 illegal, secret and unconstitutional domestic terrorist list,” he added. The event will also denounce what organizers call the “ICE terror throughout New Jersey” and the “escalation toward war against the nations and people of Latin America,” organizers said. See Related: 'Know Your Protest Rights': New Jersey ACLU Shares Tips For Activists See Related: 2 Companies With NJ Ties May Score Big Profits From Trump Deportations See Related: Essex Commissioners Demand Action At ICE Prison: ‘You Should Be Ashamed’ Send local news tips and correction requests to eric.kiefer@patch.com. Find out how to post announcements or events to your local Patch site.
