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During a White House roundtable discussion, Kristi Noem on Wednesday compared the loose network of antifascist activists to MS-13, the Gaza-based organization, Hezbollah and ISIS, describing the loosely affiliated protesters “equally threatening” as officially recognized terror groups.

“They are just as sophisticated as MS-13, as TDA [Tren de Aragua], as the Islamic State, as the Lebanese militia, as Hamas, as all of them, they are just as dangerous,” the secretary said. “They have an agenda to destroy us, just like the other terrorists we’ve dealt with for many, many years.”

The discussion included rightwing social media journalists including several prominent commentators among others who report on anti-fascist demonstrations.

Several organizations mentioned by the secretary – the Palestinian, Lebanese, and jihadist factions – are formally designated terrorist organizations that hold land, operate military wings, maintain command structures and have executed mass casualty attacks such as bombings, kidnappings and targeted killings.

Specialists in radical movements have frequently characterized antifa, by contrast, as lacking a central command, official membership or organizational structure, and it has generally been described by federal law enforcement as a decentralized movement of activists who engage in protest activity, portions of which involve damage to belongings and street violence.

This meeting follows an executive order issued last month designating antifa as a “homegrown terror group”.

Days before the announcement, a Proud Boys leader who was convicted and then pardoned for his role on January 6 wrote on social media: “Who’s ready to go ANTIFA hunting? Because I know a few guys.”