The FBI has launched “criminal and domestic terrorism investigations” into “threats against immigration enforcement activity” in at least 23 regions across the US, according to an internal report shared with the Guardian.
The two-page FBI document, dated 14 November, says some of the investigations are related to the “countering domestic terrorism” memo issued by Donald Trump in September.
Released after the killing of Charlie Kirk, Trump’s memo, known as NSPM-7, called for a “national strategy” to thwart “violent and terroristic activities” associated with “anti-fascism”. It described “anti-Americanism, anti-capitalism and anti-Christianity” as threats and cited “riots” in Los Angeles and Portland, referring to protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), as examples of “political violence”.
The FBI document, disseminated to other law enforcement agencies, warns of increased “threat activity targeting government personnel or facilities related to immigration enforcement efforts”. It points to two violent attacks against ICE facilities in Texas, but says “domestic terrorist subjects”, who fall under NSPM-7, have also engaged in “reactive violent attacks which took advantage of First Amendment-protected activities nationwide”.
“[Domestic terrorist] attacks against ICE continue to be perpetrated primarily by individuals or small groups of actors,” the report continued, asserting that recent incidents marked “an escalation in violence compared to past attacks, which primarily resulted in property damage”.
The document says “indicators” that an individual may be planning to attack ICE include “stockpiling or distributing firearms”, but also “conducting online research” about agents’ movements and using encrypted messaging apps.
The FBI report was republished by another law enforcement entity and disclosed in documents obtained through public records requests by Property of the People, a government transparency non-profit.
Civil rights groups have raised concerns that NSPM-7 would be used to crack down on leftist organizing, ICE protesters and Trump critics, and advocates who reviewed the FBI’s November report for the Guardian said it renewed their fears.
“[The FBI document] is infused with vague and overbroad language, which was exactly our concern about NSPM-7 in the first place. It invites law enforcement suspicion and investigation based on purely first amendment-protected beliefs and activities,” said Hina Shamsi, director of the ACLU National Security Project. “People who are entirely innocent of any wrongdoing can be subjected to surveillance or investigation. That imposes stigma. It can wrongly immesh people in the criminal legal system.”
The FBI declined to comment.
The FBI “public safety awareness” report warned that “criminal actors with varying social and political goals” were increasingly threatening ICE, but it did not detail specific investigations or threats.
The report said cases involving “assault on a federal officer” are the most common in the FBI’s investigations into anti-ICE activity. The other cases involve domestic terrorism, conspiracy to impede or injure officers, civil unrest, anti-riot laws, destruction of vehicles, and “bombing matters”.
The FBI document referenced two concrete incidents of past violence. In July, a group of people allegedly threw fireworks and vandalized vehicles at an ICE detention center in Alvarado, Texas, before one of them allegedly shot a local police officer. Some defendants in the case have since pleaded guilty to terrorism-related charges while others’ cases are ongoing, and a Guardian investigation has raised questions about the government’s larger narratives about the events.
In September, a gunman fired at an ICE field office in Dallas, killing two ICE detainees before fatally shooting himself. No ICE staff were injured. Some prominent Republicans blamed that shooting on “the left”, but the shooter’s motives and politics were not clear, and there was no evidence the suspect was tied to any political organizing or activist groups.
The FBI’s report included a map spotlighting FBI offices across the country with ongoing investigations. As of 31 October, the FBI said it had opened criminal and domestic terrorism investigations into “observed threats” against ICE activity across 23 of its field offices, spanning most regions of the country, including Washington state, Oregon, California, New Mexico, Kansas, Georgia, Illinois, Florida, New York and Maine. It’s unclear how many total investigations the bureau has launched, with the report noting that in the regions of Chicago, Dallas and Portland, Oregon, there have been more than 10 “incidents” each.
Separately, the FBI’s map also listed 27 locations where there are ongoing domestic terrorism investigations that fall under NSPM-7, though the report does not specify if all of those cases are related to anti-ICE threats. The FBI did not respond to inquiries seeking clarification. The report also noted some NSPM-7 cases pre-dated the president’s memo, but were aligned with its goals.
There are more than 30 states total where the FBI has opened cases tied to anti-ICE activity or NSPM-7, the map shows.
“These areas could see increased threat activity in the near term,” the FBI warned, without providing evidence or specifics.
The report continued: “Indicators that individuals may be planning an attack against ICE … may include conducting surveillance; conducting online research regarding when ICE personnel may be arriving at or departing from a facility or operation; stockpiling or distributing firearms with an intent to conduct an attack or discussing operational plans with other like-minded individuals via encrypted communication applications.”
Civil liberties advocates said the “indicators” language was troubling.
“It is not illegal to do online research about the publicly available movements of government officers or to communicate through encrypted apps like Signal or WhatsApp,” said Rachel Levinson-Waldman, director of the Liberty and National Security Program at the Brennan Center for Justice, a nonprofit, in an email. “While the document refers to using encrypted communications to ‘discuss operational planning’, that term is undefined and ambiguous, leaving it open what kinds of conversations might draw FBI scrutiny.”
The FBI has recently faced criticisms over its surveillance of activists opposing ICE activities. Records obtained by Property of the People and shared with the Guardian last month revealed that the FBI spied on a private Signal group chat of volunteers organizing “courtwatch” efforts, characterizing the activists who monitor public proceedings in immigration courtrooms as “anarchist violent extremists”.
The FBI’s November report builds on assertions by the Trump administration of a dramatic rise in attacks on immigration enforcement agents. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has repeatedly asserted that there has been a “1,000% increase” in assaults on ICE officers, a claim written into NSPM-7. But the DHS has not provided evidence to support the claim.
A recent Los Angeles Times investigation, based on thousands of pages of court records involving assault cases prosecuted in southern California, Portland, Chicago and Washington DC, found the majority of alleged attacks resulted in no injury to an agent. Law enforcement files reviewed by the Guardian in July revealed that US immigration officers had made false and misleading statements about several Los Angeles protesters they arrested during mass demonstrations and had accused of violence. Several high-profile federal prosecutions for alleged assaults against immigration officers have ended in dismissals or not guilty verdicts.
The FBI report further noted that NSPM-7 called for the investigation of “institutional and individual funders, and officers and employees of organizations, that are responsible for, sponsor, or otherwise aid and abet” criminal conduct, part of the memo that has raised strong concerns about the federal government targeting civil society and nonprofit groups.
The FBI’s report said it was building on an intelligence bulletin it issued in October, also obtained by Property of the People, about “domestic violent extremists” threatening ICE. That bulletin included a footnote stating, “The mere advocacy of political or social positions, political activism, use of strong rhetoric, or generalized philosophic embrace of violent tactics does not constitute extremism and may be constitutionally protected.”
Ryan Shapiro, executive director of Property of the People, said the FBI’s November report was particularly alarming when considered alongside a US attorney general’s office 4 December memo on NSPM-7 implementation.
The memo to federal prosecutors said “criminal conduct rising to the level of domestic terrorism” includes “doxing of law enforcement, mass rioting and destruction … violent efforts to shut down immigration enforcement [and] targeting of public officials”. It cited “opposition to … immigration enforcement” … and “extreme views in favor of mass migration and open borders” as potential terrorist ideologies.
The attorney general called for a wide range of prosecutions, including “picketing or parading with intent to obstruct the administration of justice” and “obstruction or disruption in or on federal property”. It also directed federal law enforcement agencies to share “Antifa” files with the FBI.
Trump has branded “antifa” a terrorist organization, despite the fact that there is no formal “antifa” entity, with the term frequently used by conservatives to describe a wide range of anti-fascist, leftist and liberal activism.
“At its core, the war on antifa is a war on dissent, a war on free speech,” Shapiro said in a statement. He argued the FBI and attorney general memos, along with Trump’s repeated disparaging of protesters and opponents, “strongly suggest that one of the primary functions of NSPM-7 is to serve as a vehicle for targeting anti-ICE organizing broadly as an anarchist violent extremist threat”.
The records, Shapiro added, suggest “the ultimate intended use of NSPM-7 is as an instrument for classifying criticism of the Trump regime as extremism and terrorism”.
Spokespeople for ICE and DHS did not respond to inquiries.
Abigail Jackson, a White House spokesperson, said in an email that NSPM-7 is “focused on investigating, disrupting, dismantling, and prosecuting individuals and entities engaged in organized political violence and domestic terrorism – specifically the sophisticated and organized campaigns that necessitate a new law enforcement strategy”.
Jackson accused “leftwing organizations” of fueling “violent riots”, organizing “attacks against law enforcement officers” and carrying out other crimes. “The Trump administration will get to the bottom of this vast network inciting violence in American communities, and the president’s executive actions to address leftwing violence will put an end to any illegal activities.”
A DoJ spokesperson declined to comment on the specifics of the attorney general’s memo, saying in a statement: “Political violence has no place in this country, and this Department of Justice will investigate, identify, and root out any individual or violent extremist group attempting to commit or promote this heinous activity.”
In response to questions about federal assault prosecutions ending in acquittals and dismissals, the spokesperson said: “The Department of Justice will continue to seek the most serious available charges against any individual who puts federal agents in harm’s way … We will never make charging decisions based on the opinions of self-proclaimed ‘experts’.”
Mike German, a former FBI agent, who is now a civil liberties advocate, said NSPM-7 was a “chilling document that likens political opposition to government policy to terrorism”. He also noted that since 9/11, the FBI has had wide latitude to launch terrorism investigations based on minimal evidence and with little oversight.
“All it takes is an allegation to justify opening a preliminary investigation, and agents can make their own allegations, so the number of investigations doesn’t really tell you very much other than the FBI is taking this mandate from NSPM-7 to open a wide range of cases,” he said.
These kinds of FBI alerts with broad and vague language are unhelpful to other law enforcement officials, German added: “It doesn’t give a lot of specific information about what law enforcement should be looking for or how to differentiate between a protester and somebody who might be presenting some kind of violent threat. It just tends to raise the fear level in law enforcement.”
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