DOJ Brings 1st Antifa Terrorism Charges

A federal grand jury indicted two alleged Antifa members with terrorism-related charges for a July 4 attack on an ICE facility in Texas.

The indictment, issued Wednesday and unsealed Thursday, charges Cameron Arnold and Zachary Evetts with providing material support for terrorism, attempting to murder federal and assisting officers and discharging firearms during attempted murders.

"For the first time ever, the FBI has arrested anarchist violent extremists and charged these Antifa-aligned individuals with material support to terrorism," FBI Director Kash Patel said in a statement.

"This was a planned and coordinated terrorist attack on the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas, where armed extremists tried to murder U.S. officers on July 4th," he continued.

"We are executing under President Trump's new authorities at record speed. To date, the FBI has made over 20 arrests tied to this case and related Antifa networks. No one gets to harm law enforcement. Not on our watch," Patel added.

Attorney General Pam Bondi also hailed the charges, vowing further prosecutions against Antifa members.

Arnold and Evetts are alleged to have participated in the ambush of federal agents at the ICE detention facility along with nine others. Authorities say the suspects used fireworks as a distraction while vandalizing vehicles outside the facility.

When police began to respond, the indictment says, an unnamed individual referred to in court documents as "Coconspirator-1" yelled, "Get to the rifles!"

"Seconds later, Coconspirator-1 opened fire on the officers, striking the Alvarado officer in the neck area as the unarmed correctional officers ducked and ran for cover. The wounded officer fell to the ground but was able to return a few shots. Coconspirator-1 continued to fire additional rounds until his rifle jammed. The attackers then left the scene," the indictment reads.

Though Cameron Arnold is listed as a defendant, court documents and defense attorneys make clear that "Coconspirator-1" is an unnamed, unindicted individual, not Arnold, and is believed by authorities to have fired the first shots during the ambush.

In an email to Fox News, Arnold’s attorney, Cody Lee Cofer, said: "Those observing the preliminary hearing may well have been shocked by the absence of evidence implicating Autumn Hill in the charges the Government alleged in the criminal complaint. The addition of the Material Support to Terrorism count in the indictment could be viewed as the Government’s imaginative stretch to find a charge that they think better fits the facts, and the Government’s invocation of ‘terrorism’ could be understood by some as an attempt to appeal to a mob mentality rather than relying on the evidence and the law.

"Observers may think the Government shows no regard for the First Amendment. Thankfully, Ms. Hill has a Sixth Amendment right to a speedy and public trial. We look forward to defending Ms. Hill against these charges at trial," Cofer added.

In a phone interview, Zachary Evetts’ attorney, Patrick McLain, told Fox News: "Nobody was planning terrorism. This was an assembly of people protesting at the immigration detention center there in Alvarado and nobody was intending to harm anybody. I have not seen any evidence to support any of the charges."

The charges come weeks after President Donald Trump signed an executive order seeking to classify Antifa as a terrorist organization.

Read the full indictment here.