SALEM, Oregon (AP) — Amid a growing number of attacks by domestic extremists, efforts to have them labeled as terrorists or to criminalize domestic terrorism are gaining momentum.
A Republican senator and a Democrat in the House of Representatives have drafted bills to make domestic acts of terrorism a federal crime while some Republicans are calling for an anti-fascist movement known as antifa to be designated as a domestic terrorist organization.
Only foreign groups can be labeled terrorist organizations. The U.S. State Department maintains that list , currently comprising 68 groups — none of which is white supremacist.
It is illegal for a person in the U.S. to knowingly provide “material support or resources” to a foreign terrorist organization.
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AP writer Jonathan J. Cooper in Phoenix contributed to this report.
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