This Legal Org Protects Antifa Terrorist Cells From Prosecution

When President Donald Trump designated Antifa a domestic terrorist organization last week, critics attacked the move, calling Antifa merely an idea.

Explainer Trump Designates Antifa as Domestic Terrorist Organization Amid Protests in Oregon

Ideas don’t need lawyers, yet the Antifa-affiliated nonprofit National Lawyers Guild (NLG) exists in part to offer legal services to other Antifa organizations. NLG describes itself as anti-fascist and is directly connected to violent Antifa protest groups and individuals, as it shows up at their demonstrations, protests, and riots, advocating for those who get arrested.

NLG trains activists to be “legal observers” at riots. Once trained, these observers receive a distinctive fluorescent green hat and attend events that align with NLG’s mission and leftist values. They are not necessarily attorneys but are there to watch law enforcement and connect arrested protesters with NLG. The hallmark of protests with Antifa anarchists is violence, and NLG observers come prepared with helmets.

Among its goals, NLG aims to abolish prisons, police, and all aspects of systems and institutions that support, condone, create, fill, or protect prisons, including jails and immigration detention centers. This is why NLG “stands in support” of the loosely organized Antifa group accused of attempted murder for the July 4 attack on the Prairieland ICE Detention Center in Texas, where officials say the group ambushed the facility, shooting fireworks and bullets at the building.

In a statement, NLG minimized the violence, reasoning that “making noise outside of jails is an extremely common form of protest.” They acknowledged that an officer claimed to have sustained a minor injury from what the state alleges was a gunshot, yet emphasized that only two individuals have been described as alleged shooters in the federal government’s criminal complaints.

The NLG is more than a group of lawyers; it is an activist organization with a long list of goals aimed at bringing “basic change in the structure of our political and economic system.” While no one elected NLG into office, the group’s website states its intention to change U.S. foreign policies it disagrees with, including support for Palestine.

NLG has also expressed solidarity with the people of Palestine, urging public recognition of the right to resist unlawful occupation “by all available means, including armed struggle.” This stance has drawn criticism, particularly following the brutal October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel.

Financially, the National Lawyers Guild is a membership organization with various chapters, some of which have their own funding. According to 990 tax exempt forms, the parent group had $1.4 million in net assets for 2023. The National Lawyers Guild Foundation had $4.6 million, and the National Immigration Project, which operates under NLG, reported $2.9 million in net assets for the same year. The organization has received funding from prominent philanthropists, including $25,000 from the Soros Family’s Open Society Foundation.

Critics argue that the claim that Antifa is not a real organization due to its disorganization is wearing thin. While groups operate separately for protection, they work together towards a common goal of opposing capitalism and promoting socialism. Various Antifa groups, including Antifascists 615 and the Screwston Anti-Fascist Committee, exemplify this decentralized structure, making it challenging to address the movement as a whole.

Beth Brelje is an elections correspondent for The Federalist, with decades of media experience as an award-winning investigative journalist.