Charlotte Stone, 18, of Virginia Beach, Virginia, held a sign depicting President Donald Trump with a Hitler mustache, at the "We Are All DC" march Saturday, Sept. 6, 2025, in the District of Columbia to protest the deployment of National Guard troops in the nation's capital. (Photo by Ashley Murray/States Newsroom)

WASHINGTON — House Democrats demanded Thursday that President Donald Trump rescind two ominous directives they say target protest and dissent in the United States, including directing federal law enforcement resources to investigate groups that are “anti-American” and “anti-Christian.”

In a letter to the White House the lawmakers sharply criticize a “complete and utter lack of any legal basis” for Trump’s Sept. 22 executive order “Designating Antifa as a Domestic Terrorism Organization” and his Sept. 25 memo directing federal law enforcement to investigate and disrupt a wide range of activities by groups or individuals with a vast array of beliefs.

“While protecting public safety and countering genuine threats are essential responsibilities of government, the sweeping language and broad authority in these directives pose serious constitutional, statutory, and civil liberties risks, especially if used to target political dissent, protest, or ideological speech,” states the letter led by Democratic Reps. Mark Pocan of Wisconsin, Jared Huffman of California and Pramila Jayapal of Washington. 

The letter comes just two days ahead of thousands of nationwide demonstrations, dubbed “No Kings Day,” against the activities of the Trump administration, including the deployment of federal law enforcement and National Guard troops in major American cities.

“Regardless of whether the President agrees with someone’s political views, the Constitution guarantees their right to speak and assemble peacefully. Officials must not label individuals as ‘supporting Antifa’ or ‘coordinating with Antifa’ based solely on their protected speech,” according to the letter. 

“Antifa” is not one group. Rather, it’s an ideology that disapproves of the fascist style of governance.

The letter continues: “In fact, neither the memo nor the executive order clearly defines ‘Antifa’ as a specific entity. Instead, the executive order conflates nonviolent protest and activism with doxing and violent behavior. Without clear definitions and limits, this vague framing could subject lawful political expression and assembly to the same treatment as terrorism.”

Twenty-eight other Democratic lawmakers signed alongside Pocan, co-chair of the Congressional Equity and Labor caucuses; Jayapal, former head of the Congressional Progressive Caucus; and Huffman, founder of the Congressional Freethought caucus.

When asked about the letter, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson responded to States Newsroom: “The only thing Democrats love defending more than criminal illegal aliens is Antifa.”

Trump memo

Trump’s Sept. 25 national security memo orders the National Joint Terrorism Task Force and its local offices to create a comprehensive national strategy to not only disrupt and prosecute political violence but also to investigate funders and employees of organizations “that aid and abet” those who commit violence or who are “recruiting and radicalizing” people to do so. 

There are about 200 such task forces in the U.S., including at least one in each Federal Bureau of Investigation’s 56 field offices and the rest in local, state and other federal agencies, according to the FBI.

The memo states that “Common threads animating this violent conduct 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.”

Such conduct, according to the memo, is organized “through a variety of fora, including anonymous chat forums, in-person meetings, social media, and even educational institutions” and then escalates “to organized doxing.”

The directive also instructs Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and the commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, who also happens to be Bessent after Trump fired his original pick two months into the job, to be on the lookout for suspect funding streams and ensure no tax-exempt entities “directly or indirectly” finance political violence or domestic terrorism. 

‘Fever dream of conspiracies’

The memo does not create any new parts of the criminal code or grant any new powers to federal law enforcement, including the FBI and agents who work in the criminal investigations units at the Department of Treasury and IRS.

The American Civil Liberties Union described the memo as “a fever dream of conspiracies, outright falsehoods, and the president’s distorted equation of criticism of his policies by real or perceived political opponents with ‘criminal and terroristic conspiracies.’”

“Through the memo, the president instructs federal departments and law enforcement agencies to use authorities they already have and focus them on investigations of civil society groups — including nonprofits, activists, and donors — to ‘disrupt’ and ‘prevent’ the president’s fever-dream version of ‘terrorism’ and ‘political violence,’” the ACLU’s Hina Shamsi wrote in an Oct. 15 article posted on the organization’s website.