A leaked joint memo from the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security reveals that the Trump administration may place peaceful protests under heightened surveillance, citing concerns over such protests harboring “domestic violent extremists."
Obtained by journalist Ken Klippenstein, the leaked memo was disseminated Oct. 1 to law enforcement agencies across the country and is classified as a “law enforcement sensitive” document.
The memo warns of threats to Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, and cautions that domestic violent extremists – the government's stand-in phrase for domestic terrorists – sometimes “took advantage of First Amendment-protected activity,” giving reason for the potential heightened surveillance of protests. It also warns that domestic violent extremists have “leveraged large, lawful protests” in “multiple cities.”
Writing on his Substack, Klippenstein noted that the only instance of violence against ICE agents that may have been politically motivated was the shooting back in July, where an alleged planned ambush saw an officer shot outside an ICE detention facility in North Texas. That incident, however, had no relation to any protests.
“There have no doubt been violent confrontations and instances of vandalism – but terrorism? There hasn’t been a single ICE employee killed this year,” Klippenstein wrote.
“And the officer shot in the neck seems to be the only major injury resulting from political opposition to ICE. The lack of evidence doesn’t seem to matter with the moral panic over domestic terrorism in full swing after Charlie Kirk’s murder, a 9/11-type event for the administration.”
Klippenstein also noted the timing of the memo’s publication, which came two days after Attorney General Pam Bondi issued a directive to mobilize law enforcement agencies to immediately defend ICE facilities and personnel. In the directive, Bondi cited President Donald Trump’s executive order that expanded his administration’s surveillance capabilities in what a former Homeland Security senior official called “Orwellian beyond belief.”
The memo also comes just ahead of the impending No Kings protests, a follow up to the protests held across the country back in July that were attended by millions.