A group of activists who say each of them has been a political defendant has launched the NSPM-7 Defendants Union, a project to connect people facing investigations or prosecutions tied, by the group and in some cases by the Justice Department itself, to the Trump administration's domestic-terrorism strategy, and to persuade them to fight their cases publicly and together. The union launched on October 6, according to The Guardian, and on October 22 CrimethInc., a publishing collective that calls itself "an international network of aspiring revolutionaries," published the organizers' own overview, introducing a "Defendants Pledge" and an online "Repression Tracker." The organizers say the strategy, set out in National Security Presidential Memorandum 7, "aggregates all of the political left under a single directive." The memorandum itself says it targets "entities and individuals engaged in acts of political violence and intimidation," and the administration points to cases such as a Texas prosecution over the shooting of a police officer outside an immigration detention center.
The group, in its own words
"We want a critical mass of new defendants across the country to adopt a shared framework to fight their cases," the organizers wrote. "If everyone embraces bold, political publicity and commits to collective defense, we could amass leverage across hundreds of cases." Their website says the project "is built by organizers" who have "fought on the front lines of climate, abolitionist, and socialist struggles," and that "each of our volunteers has been a political defendant." One of its goals, The Guardian reported, is to dismantle the government's notion of "antifa," which President Trump designated a domestic terrorist organization in September 2025. "Antifa's not a real thing," an organizer who used the pseudonym Alex told the paper. The union offers free office hours with a movement lawyers' collective, media training and help building support committees, and says it is open to anyone facing charges, police visits or subpoenas over protest.
The pledge asks signers to go public with their cases and tie them to "the larger movement," pursue joint defense strategies with co-defendants, refrain from publicly denouncing "the tactical choices of anyone accused of actions I don't personally agree with," and "not cooperate with any investigatory or prosecutorial arm of the state." The Repression Tracker, an online form, collects reports of "FBI home visits, subpoenas or warrants, and court summons" so the group can map enforcement across regions and agencies.
What NSPM-7 says
The memorandum, "Countering Domestic Terrorism and Organized Political Violence," was signed September 25, 2025, about two weeks after the assassination of Charlie Kirk, which the memorandum cites. It says political violence "is not a series of isolated incidents and does not emerge organically" but grows from "sophisticated, organized campaigns of targeted intimidation, radicalization, threats, and violence." It directs the FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Forces to run a national strategy "to investigate, prosecute, and disrupt entities and individuals engaged in acts of political violence and intimidation designed to suppress lawful political activity or obstruct the rule of law," reaching funders who are "responsible for, sponsor, or otherwise aid and abet" that conduct, and nonprofits or Americans living abroad or tied to foreign governments or influence networks that violate the foreign-agent registration or money-laundering laws by funding groups that support domestic terrorism. It also lists "common threads" it says animate the violence, among them "anti-Americanism, anti-capitalism, and anti-Christianity," "extremism on migration, race, and gender," and "hostility towards those who hold traditional American views on family, religion, and morality." The White House says the strategy is needed "to prevent this violence and fully address this threat to the Nation." The union's FAQ says the memo "reorients the whole Executive Branch towards a singular goal: crushing Trump's political enemies." Then-Attorney General Pam Bondi's December 2025 memo carrying it out disclaims, in a footnote, investigations based solely on activity the First Amendment protects, according to a summary by the law firm Arnold & Porter.
The Justice Department has itself tied prosecutions to the memorandum. A June department press release on two people charged over damage at the Georgia headquarters of the contractor then building Atlanta's police training center said, "This case is part of a nationwide National Security Presidential Memorandum 7 initiative," led by a prosecutorial unit called Joint Task Force Vanguard, the Atlanta Press Collective reported. FBI records obtained by the watchdog group American Oversight show agents and analysts from across federal law enforcement, including the Internal Revenue Service, working at an FBI "NSPM-7 Joint Mission Center," Talking Points Memo reported in September. The Justice Department declined to comment to TPM; it has denied in the past that its work to carry out NSPM-7 infringes on free speech.
The cases, and the critics
The administration cites results. One is the Prairieland case in Texas, where a police officer was shot outside an immigration detention center on July 4, 2025; nine people were convicted in March, and the shooter, Benjamin Song, was sentenced to 100 years for attempted murder. "Acts of violence against our law enforcement partners will not be tolerated," FBI Director Kash Patel said. Song told the court that the idea he planned an ambush was "impossible," saying he feared police brutality when he saw the officer point his gun at another defendant. The union lists "the Prairieland defendants" among the people it aims to unite.
Civil-liberties groups say the memo sweeps in protected speech. The ACLU says it "does not create any new federal powers or crimes," but calls it "a deliberate attempt to sow fear and intimidate and silence opposition to the president's abuses." In August the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, the Society for the Rule of Law and the Cato Institute filed a brief arguing that NSPM-7 "treats left-leaning political viewpoints as indicia of domestic terrorism."
The brief was filed in the Minnesota case of Isaac Sant, a 36-year-old nursing assistant who has joined the union, according to The Guardian. He is one of 15 people charged with conspiring to impede or injure federal officers during last winter's immigration enforcement surge; all have pleaded not guilty, and a superseding indictment filed October 22 keeps that conspiracy count against all 15. Announcing the charges in June, Rosen noted that President Trump had issued NSPM-7 and that Joint Task Force Vanguard had worked on the case, Common Dreams reported. The White House called the 15 "Antifa operatives" who used "blockades, vehicle tracking, intimidation, and other militant tactics," and Minnesota's U.S. attorney, Daniel Rosen, said they were "charged not for what they said but what they did." In an August motion, Sant's lawyer, Kevin Riach, cited material the government had turned over in discovery; as MPR News summarized it, "it appears the government sent people posing as protesters to public meetings at churches, parks, libraries and union halls." The motion also said Homeland Security Investigations had obtained financial records from two labor unions. At an August 27 hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Sommer Lindsay Honeycutt said the investigations of the 15 were justified by complaints to security at the Whipple Federal Building, confrontational protests during ICE actions and discussions of direct actions, while acknowledging that the government is not claiming the defendants took part in those activities. "This prosecution is based on real actions that rise to the level of criminal conduct," she said. Magistrate Judge David Schultz took the defense's request for more surveillance records under advisement; the court docket showed no ruling on it as of October 26.
This article reflects reporting through the afternoon of Monday, October 26, 2026. Sources: CrimethInc., October 22; the union's website and FAQ; The Guardian, October 6; the White House's text of NSPM-7, fact sheet and June 17 release; Arnold & Porter; the ACLU; Protect Democracy; MPR News, August 13 and August 28; the court docket in United States v. Sant; Atlanta Press Collective, June 12; Talking Points Memo; Common Dreams, June 17; Texas Public Radio, June 23.
