Ensure that no terror designation will target Americans’ speech

On July 16, Secretary Rubio hosts delegations from more than 70 countries at the State Department on what the administration calls “the resurgence of transnational far-left terrorism.” Before that meeting convenes, demand that State give Congress the intelligence assessment and written legal basis behind it, and hold a public oversight hearing on how these designations will apply to Americans. Political violence is real and I’m not asking anyone to pretend otherwise. The July 2025 attack on the Prairieland ICE detention center was prosecuted, and those responsible are serving long sentences. That’s the system working. Existing law already punishes arson, assault, and conspiracy. Nobody needs a new designation regime to imprison a violent person. The problem is what’s being built alongside the prosecutions. Antifa is not an organization. FBI Director Chris Wray testified to that, and the Congressional Research Service says the same. No statute gives a president authority to designate a domestic terrorist organization, and the September 2025 executive order doing it cited none, because none exists. NSPM-7 then told federal agencies to investigate people under the banner of “anti-capitalism,” “anti-Christianity,” and “hostility towards those who hold traditional American views on family, religion, and morality.” Those describe beliefs, not crimes. The foreign designation is the workaround. Federal material-support law reaches U.S. persons, broadly enough that a donation or a rented room can qualify. Designate enough overseas groups, call an American organization affiliated, and you’ve reached domestic political speech without Congress ever voting on it. Officials in this administration told the Washington Post they worry these tools will one day be aimed at conservative movements by a future president. They’re right to worry, and that’s the argument. A power built to investigate your opponents doesn’t stay pointed at your opponents. Thirty-one members of Congress already raised this in writing. Four asks. Get the threat assessment and legal justification from State before the ministerial convenes. Hold a public hearing at Foreign Relations or Foreign Affairs. Require the department to certify that no foreign designation will be used to investigate Americans for protected speech, association, or donations. And pass legislation making clear that no president may designate a domestic organization as terrorist without an act of Congress. Prosecute violence. Don’t build a list of beliefs.