Mayorkas: About those "domestic violent extremists"

Since December 2022, state and local law enforcement entities have arrested dozens of people protesting the construction of a police training facility, derisively referred to as “Cop City” by opponents, in a state-owned Georgia forest. Authorities have charged more than 40 protesters with domestic terrorism, even though the arrest warrants don’t allege any explicit terrorist activity: Some are accused of throwing rocks or possessing incendiary devices, while others are simply charged with trespassing.

Now, a member of Congress and a consortium of civil liberties advocacy groups want answers from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

As justification for domestic terrorism charges, arrest warrants from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) all use identical language to say that “the accused affirmed their cooperation” with “Defend the Atlanta Forest (DTAF), a group classified by the United States Department of Homeland Security as Domestic Violent Extremists” (DVEs).