"No Kings" Protest (and Arrests) Have Begun
NSPM-7 is already being used to detain protesters over speech
The “No Kings” protest on Saturday is the first major test of Trump’s national security directive NSPM-7, with an enhanced federal presence searching for Antifa “terrorists” and an entire intelligence apparatus looking for so-called indicators of future terrorist acts.
Those indicators include “anti-Christianity,” “anti-Americanism,” and “anti-capitalism” — speech that is commonplace. Alarming as that may sound, the major media have largely downplayed NSPM-7 as impossible to implement because it violates norms and even “the law.” What they don’t realize is that NPSM-7 has already resulted in several arrests at protests just like No Kings.
Take the case of Elias Cepeda, an English professor who was arrested on September 26 while participating in a protest outside of an ICE facility in Broadview, Illinois and detained for what appears to just be speech considered pro-Antifa.
“A journalist and teacher at the University of Illinois,” the Department of Homeland Security press release blared, “Elias Cepeda has suspected ties to the domestic terrorist organization ANTIFA and has a history of glorifying violence against … our brave law enforcement.”
The DHS press release then lists half a dozen of Cepeda’s social media posts (recall NSPM-7’s focus on speech “indicators” of future terror attacks). The first couple posts are harmless, references to “Antifa” being the only part that stands out.
One post expresses support for arming teachers to protect students from ICE raids, but none seem to be “glorifying violence.”
The DHS press release also said that Cepeda was carrying a firearm with several magazines when arrested. But the press release does not allege any crime (Cepeda apparently has a concealed carry permit for the firearm); and more than two weeks since the incident, he still has not been charged with any. Authorities haven’t provided any indication that they’re pursuing charges. This calls into question the purpose of the arrest, let alone the public smearing of Cepeda.
Despite the apparent lack of evidence, after the arrest Cepeda was held for about 12 hours in federal custody (without access to an attorney, he says) before being transferred to Illinois state custody, from which he was almost immediately released.
I can hear skeptics saying, sure, maybe in the end he wasn’t charged with a crime, who knows what else the feds know etc., but think about it: an American seemingly doing nothing more than protesting and calling ICE names (one of his posts in the DHS press release calls them “Nazis,” a comparison doubtless millions of ordinary people have made as well) is detained and held in custody for half a day. His name now appears alongside the word “domestic terrorism” in an official federal government press release that is the fourth hit when you Google “Elias Cepeda,” which I’m sure employers love.
Don’t think there’s a real threat to American liberty here? In a nearly identical case the same month, two other people, Ray Collins and Jocelyn Robledo, an engaged couple from Chicago, were arrested while protesting outside the same ICE facility in Broadview, near Chicago.
When agents attempted to expand the security perimeter around the facility in the face of a growing crowd, Robledo allegedly pushed back against agents after being shoved, leading to a struggle during which officers noticed a pistol in her waistband. Collins, witnessing the altercation involving his fiancée, reportedly charged toward the agents, yelling for them to get away from her. (Collins was also said to have been carrying a firearm.)
The Justice Department filed charges alleging that the scuffle resulted in “a physical injury to the thumb of an ATF Special Agent” without any further elaboration. What?
Here too, the Trump administration blasted out a statement about the incident. But a grand jury wasn’t buying it, and they refused to indict. (Their attorney later made a crack that the evidence had been weaker than “a ham sandwich,” referring to the legal truism that a grand jury would indict a ham sandwich.)
Though the charges were ultimately dropped, like Cepeda, these people had to deal with the legal system and have their names splashed across government releases.
There are still more federal charges, later dropped, against protesters at the same event, like Paul Ivery and Hubert Mazur.
The cascade of cases targeting free speech are a direct result of NSPM-7 and Trump’s executive order designating Antifa — whatever that is — as a “domestic terrorist organization.”
Several days after Trump signed the directive, Attorney General Pam Bondi responded with her own directive citing NSPM-7 and establishing an ICE protection task force, specifically mentioning the ICE facility in Broadview.
Bondi’s directive makes clear that when it comes to protecting ICE, federal law enforcement is now in the business of pre-crime, to borrow a term from Minority Report.
“The charging priorities directed by this memorandum are not limited to those criminals who are caught red-handed committing acts of violence against ICE facilities and personnel,” Bondi says.
In other words, you don’t have to have committed a crime to be investigated or even arrested and detained. You just have to have committed wrongspeech, as defined by NSPM-7’s broad indicators.
As Bondi’s directive goes on to quote from NSPM-7 specifically, targeting for arrest and prosecution “every person who aids, abets, or conspires” (whatever that means) with these anti-ICE forces of domestic terrorism.
“The President is exactly right: We must ‘disband and uproot networks, entities, and organizations that promote organized violence, violent intimidation, conspiracies against rights, and other efforts to disrupt the functioning of a democratic society.’ The Department of Justice will arrest and prosecute to the fullest extent of the law every person who aids, abets, or conspires to commit these crimes, whether through funding, coordination, planning, or other means.”
That’s what happens when you adopt the framework of counterterrorism — a fancy word for pre-crime. When you engage in counterterrorism, to quote NSPM-7, you’re cracking down on things “before they result in violent political acts” (emphasis mine).
The major media might not notice, but that crackdown is already happening. Today we’ll see how it’s applied to the No Kings protest. If America has a king, it’s the national security state.
— Edited by William M. Arkin
These pussies love the 2nd Amendment when it comes to THEIR guns.
Their attitude is consistent - the only people who they like get civil liberties.
Also just want to point out that some of us have been screaming about this since Bush passed the Patriot Act. Every president has expanded the surveillance state.
None of this is new. I'd like to personally say that every junior fascist who called Assange or Snowden anything other than heroes - thanks, assholes.
GOP calling No Kings “hate America” rallies. How is this real? How has it gotten this bad?