Anti-US protesters funded by pro-China tycoon mobilize as first bombs fall on Iran

In the dark of the night, 10 minutes before President Donald Trump even announced that the U.S. and Israel had attacked Iran, a network of U.S. nonprofits aligned with China, Russia and Tehran activated foot soldiers to hit America’s streets.

Groups funded by Neville Roy Singham, a Shanghai-based, American-born tech tycoon, which regularly parrot messaging from America’s adversaries, swung into action even as the initial bombs were dropping. The nearly instantaneous response was the latest salvo in an information war on the U.S., with foot soldiers called upon to converge in protests and echo anti-U.S. talking points.

At 2:34 a.m. ET, the ANSWER Coalition, a nonprofit project whose leaders describe themselves as Marxist and communist, announced, “EMERGENCY NATIONWIDE DAY OF ACTION TODAY, SAT. FEB 28 — STOP THE WAR WITH IRAN!”

ISRAEL TARGETS IRAN’S SUPREME LEADER IN SWEEPING STRIKES AS US JOINS ‘OPERATION EPIC FURY’

It announced its network of groups that have long supported the regime in Iran, including the National Iranian American Council, 50501, American Muslims for Palestine, the People’s Forum, Palestinian Youth Movement and CodePink. The organizations haven’t responded to requests for comment. Singham did not respond to a request for comment.

The network set the language for its anti-U.S. messaging, calling the war an “unprovoked, illegal bombing of Iran.” It even set up a website domain for the coordinated actions at http://ANSWERCoalition.org.

BREAKING THE FOURTH WALL: LEFT-WING GROUPS DEFIANT AS GOP SHEDS LIGHT ON GROUPS TIED TO CHINA

Ten minutes later, at 2:44 a.m., Trump posted a video, confirming the attack on Iran, telling the world, “A short time ago, the United States military began major combat operations in Iran.

Eight minutes later, at 2:52 a.m., the People’s Forum, a New York-based activist hub funded by Singham as an “incubator” for socialist groups, issued an “emergency” call to action for a protest in Times Square.

“🚨 EMERGENCY DAY OF ACTION IN NYC TO STOP THE WAR WITH IRAN: TODAY, 2/28 at 2PM in Times Square,” the People’s Forum announced.

The ANSWER Coalition runs operations out of the People’s Forum headquarters in midtown Manhattan. The People’s Forum statement mirrored the messaging in a new video released overnight before the attacks by the Chinese Communist Party, framing the U.S. as an imperial and colonial power.

The People’s Forum said, “This war serves no one but a tiny elite and oil executives and is a continuation of more than two years of genocide in Palestine and US-Israeli aggressions throughout the region.”

The same network has mobilized rapidly in past high-profile national security incidents. It previously rallied in support of Nicolás Maduro after U.S. authorities arrested him and his wife, Sylvia Flores, Jan. 3 for alleged involvement in narco-terrorism.

Earlier this month, when the State Department sent a report to the U.S. Congress raising concerns about this network, it stated, “Organizations like Code Pink and the People’s Forum denigrate the United States, whitewash the violence of Marxist regimes, and run cover for narco-terrorists like Maduro while enjoying an influx of cash from a donor network with connections to the Chinese Communist Party.”

IRAN’S IDEOLOGICAL FOOT SOLDIERS WAGE PROXY WAR IN AMERICA

Last summer, the same coalition, including the People’s Forum, the Party for Socialism and Liberation, the ANSWER Coalition and CodePink, rallied outside the White House under the banner “Hands Off Iran.” That protest was coordinated alongside the National Iranian American Council and amplified by BreakThrough News, which broadcast images of children holding anti-war signs at the White House fence.

Through the night of the joint U.S.-Israel attack on Iran, field marshals immediately readied printed signage, standardized messaging and coordinated media amplification, according to people familiar with the organizations. They linked anti-Israel activism, anti-ICE protests and anti-Trump messaging into a single narrative framework opposing what organizers call the U.S. “empire.” Their messages aligned with the messages of pro-regime protests in Iran.

By 4:31 a.m., BreakThrough News, a project of BreakThrough BT Media, a nonprofit funded by Singham, promoted the day of “emergency” protests as “BREAKING” news. It shares the same address as the People’s Forum, and its editor-in-chief, Ben Becker, is the son of Brian Becker, a co-founder of the ANSWER Coalition.

FAR-LEFT NONPROFITS IN THE HOT SEAT AS LAWMAKER EXPOSES THEM FOR ‘SOWING CHAOS’ IN US

At 7:19 a.m., BreakThrough News circulated a video of an alleged U.S. strike on a school, which the network’s organizations repeated and amplified to portray the U.S. as an unbridled aggressor. The U.S. hasn’t commented yet on that alleged strike.

By 9:09 am., China’s Foreign Ministry called for an end to the strikes, its language aligning with the rhetoric of the U.S. protest infrastructure, calling for the defense of Iran’s “sovereignty” and “territorial integrity.”

By then, as many Americans were just awakening to the news, the protest infrastructure was fully engaged with social media graphics circulating, local chapters alerted and Times Square positioned once again as a stage for the rapid mobilization of foot soldiers who would have their images broadcast around the world with the predictable language of Americans mobilizing a “grassroots” campaign against the U.S. war on Iran.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

At 11 a.m., the protests had spread to 16 hubs for the ANSWER Coalition and the Party for Socialism and Liberation: Chicago; Washington, D.C.; Akron, Cincinnati and Cleveland in Ohio; Asheville and Charlotte in North Carolina; Boston; Burlington, Vt.; San Diego, San Francisco, Sacramento, Davis and Los Angeles in California; Providence, R.I; Tucson, Ariz.; and Eugene, Ore.

A network of pro-regime organizations in Chicago issued its own press release, parroting the messaging against “the U.S. empire.”

Asra Nomani is senior editor of investigations at Fox News Digital. She is a former reporter at the Wall Street Journal, where she covered stories related to money, politics and society. She is the author of She can be reached at asra.nomani@fox.com and on X at @asranomani.

Breaking the Fourth Wall: Left-wing groups defiant as GOP sheds light on groups tied to China

As House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith dropped the gavel at 10:05 a.m. on Tuesday opening a hearing on “malign foreign influence,” the groups under scrutiny did not retreat, apologize or go silent.

They escalated.

Inside Room 1100 of the Longworth House Office Building, Smith warned that the U.S. nonprofit sector had become a vulnerability exploited by foreign adversaries. Outside the hearing room — across social media — far-left organizations tied to Marxist tech tycoon Neville Roy Singham, born in the U.S. and living in Shanghai, pressed forward with rhetoric vilifying the United States for its alleged “colonial policies” and “imperialism” and amplifying narratives aligned with the Chinese Communist Party, or CCP, and communist allies like Cuba.

“This is not politics. It’s about national security,” Smith said, as he opened the hearing titled “Foreign Influence in American Nonprofits: Unmasking Threats from Beijing.” He said the committee was investigating “money trails” behind tax-exempt groups accused of “sowing chaos, fueling antisemitism,” and interfering in elections.

HOUSE COMMITTEE INVESTIGATES LEFT-WING ORGANIZATIONS ‘SOWING CHAOS’ ACROSS US

During the hearing, Smith sharpened the warning.

“The CCP is taking advantage of our tax-exempt sector,” he said.

For any organization allegedly breaking nonprofit tax laws, he said: “We’re coming for you!”

Breaking the fourth wall, Fox News Digital examined how the Singham network positioned itself outside the hearing room. A flurry of social media posts reveal that, even as Smith’s words echoed in the hearing room, the ecosystem he described was aggressively putting forward their own rhetoric of defiance.

On Tuesday, during the hearing, CodePink, co-founded by Singham’s wife Jodie Evans, was circulating a narrative accusing the United States of enabling atrocities abroad. On its X social media account, CodePink shared an article claiming Israel had “evaporated” Palestinians in Gaza, concluding: “Horrors beyond comprehension — made possible by the United States.”

The message mirrored language long pushed by U.S. adversaries, including the terrorist group Hamas.

While CodePink activists often crash hearings, screaming interruptions and heckling Republicans, they didn’t show up for this hearing, where their name was invoked several times for scrutiny.

In his opening remarks, Smith waved letters he had sent the night before to BreakThrough BT Media, a multimedia nonprofit, and Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, a think tank – both media entities funded by Singham – demanding records on their ties to Singham and alleging they promoted propaganda aligned with the Chinese Communist Party.

Online, the groups gave no indication they were retreating. BreakThrough News posted protest footage from San Francisco, even with drone video of teachers picketing, one of them carrying a bold yellow-and-black sign from the Party for Socialism and Liberation that read, “MAKE THE BILLIONAIRES PAY.”

BreakThrough News showcased anti-U.S. narratives, one demonstrator shouting, “Enough is enough!”

The far-left groups persisted as Network Contagion Research Institute co-founder Adam Sohn testified, “This is engineered subversion,” describing how foreign-aligned narratives move through U.S. nonprofits and activist networks.

The response from those networks was more performative “agitprop,” a Soviet-era tactic for agitation propaganda.

As lawmakers questioned witnesses about fiscal sponsorships and donor-advised funds, the Party for Socialism and Liberation, which is also part of the Singham’s network, promoted street protests and posted videos declaring victory.

One post from the Party for Socialism and Liberation from San Francisco racked up likes during the hearing, emblazoned with the words: “WE WILL WIN!”

That posture — aggressive, unapologetic and public — is exactly what experts warned about regarding the influence operation that U.S. adversaries are able to wage against the nation.

“They don’t need spies anymore,” Sohn told lawmakers. “They can use nonprofits,” like a Trojan horse, to “launder” their propaganda.

WATCH: HARDCORE SOCIALIST GROUPS STAGE-MANAGE ANTI-ICE PROTEST IN WASHINGTON

By late morning, Democratic Socialists of America, which has 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) organizations, added their own signal of defiance. As lawmakers debated foreign narrative laundering, Democratic Socialists of America widely shared a post where it praised the Super Bowl halftime performance by the Puerto Rican sensation Bad Bunny as “a damning critique of the harms of U.S. colonial policies.”

“As socialists in the U.S.,” Democratic Socialists of America declared. “It is our duty to support the struggles of peoples across the world suffering from the full weight of U.S. imperialism.”

The rhetoric landed as Scott Walter, president of the Capital Research Center, testified that “foreigners abuse this sector in order to hide their influence ops.”

“This committee is investigating money trails,” Smith warned. “This is about national security.”

Still, the messaging outside the room intensified.

The People’s Forum shared content praising communist Cuba and circulated a “Call to Conscience demanding an end to Trump’s assault on Cuba,” even as Pennsylvania Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick called the groups out for “digital laundering operations,” the process of repackaging the narratives and rhetoric of foreign adversaries to make them appear organic from inside the U.S.

Inside the hearing, Smith warned, “If you are an American, you should be extremely concerned.” He asked witnesses to walk through Singham’s “web” of nonprofits.

Outside, that web responded in kind.

Students for Justice in Palestine, a nonprofit ally of the groups in the Singham network, urged Americans to “END ALL OCCUPATIONS,” whatever that meant, “from Palestine to Minneapolis.”

By 1:45 p.m., Smith dropped the gavel again.

“The committee stands adjourned,” he said.

Online, the campaign never paused. Democratic Socialists of America pushed a “Call to Conscience” to end the Trump administration’s “cruel blockade on Cuba.” The People’s Forum, an “incubator” hub for Marxist groups in the Singham network, based in New York City, moved ahead with its Tuesday night event for “comrades.”

It hosted an evening discussing the “Hidden Histories of Rebellion in the US.”

What to know about Tuesday’s House hearing on foreign influence in American nonprofits: ‘Follow the money’

The Republican-led House Committee on Ways and Means is set to hold a hearing on Tuesday morning digging into foreign influence in American nonprofits, with several NGOs and far-left funding networks expected to be on the hot seat.

At 10 a.m. on Tuesday, House Committee on Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith will oversee a hearing, “Foreign Influence in American Non-profits: Unmasking Threats from Beijing and Beyond.” The hearing will be broadcast online at the committee’s website.

Witnesses at the hearing will include Capital Research Center president Scott Walter, Americans for Public Trust Executive director Caitlin Sutherland, Narravance CEO Adam Sohn, Dubinsky Consulting founder Bruce Dubinsky and Public Citizen co-founder Robert Weissman.

In a press release, the committee said the hearing will focus on the “ways foreign actors have funneled millions of dollars through networks of tax-exempt organizations to create, support, and fuel disruption and illegal activity across the country.”

FAR-LEFT GROUP WITH FOREIGN TIES UNDERMINING US UNDER GUISE OF PROTEST, REPORT WARNS

The hearing is expected to examine a network of nonprofits, including organizations funded by Neville Roy Singham, an American-born tech tycoon and self-styled Marxist-Leninist, living in Shanghai. Singham has funded nonprofit groups, including the People’s Forum, CodePink, BreakThrough BT Media, the ANSWER Coalition and the Party for Socialism and Liberation, which have worked closely with Democratic Socialists of America in dispatching socialist, Marxist-Leninist and communist foot soldiers into the streets to disrupt federal immigration law enforcement agents and stoke chaos.

“For too long, foreign actors have gotten away with abusing our tax-exempt sector to [sow] division and chaos in our country,” Smith posted on X on Tuesday morning. “Today, we’re putting them on notice. Going to be a late night in China for Shanghai Singham!”

Over the past year, Fox News Digital has documented a pattern of coordinated protests by socialist, communist and Marxist groups, revealing a synchronized ecosystem of funding, media amplification, ideological framing and street-level mobilization that aligns with the strategic interests of hostile foreign governments, including the People’s Republic of China.

“Tax-exempt status is a privilege not a right,” Smith told Fox News Digital. “Nonprofits must remain accountable and refuse to act as instruments of hostile foreign governments.”

CCP-CONNECTED MILLIONAIRE ALLEGEDLY BANKROLLS MINNEAPOLIS AGITATOR GROUPS THROUGH DARK MONEY NETWORK

The Ways and Means Committee “continues to investigate how foreign money and foreign-linked networks are funneled through tax-exempt entities to sow discord and unrest in our society,” he said. “That’s why we’re demanding answers from Tricontinental and BreakThrough about their funding streams, activities and communications with CCP-linked individuals, including Neville Roy Singham.”

Hours before the hearing, Fox News Digital reported that Smith escalated his investigation into Singham, who has allegedly been “sowing chaos and spreading Chinese propaganda, possibly in coordination with a foreign government.”

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

In separate letters, Smith demanded records from BreakThrough and Tricontinental, warning that both tax-exempt organizations may be operating outside their lawful purpose as possible unregistered foreign agents, while helping to fuel domestic unrest under the guise of journalism and academic research.

Congressional investigators say the Singham network sits at the center of a malign foreign influence operation that allegedly exploits U.S. nonprofit laws to inject anti-American propaganda into domestic protest movements and sow discord from within the United States.

The letters describe a full-spectrum operation, with funding aligned with foreign interests flowing into tax-exempt nonprofits that produce ideological research, media narratives and social media messaging, which are then deployed onto U.S. streets through tightly choreographed protests.

“If the evidence shows these groups are acting as conduits for CCP-aligned propaganda or functioning like foreign agents while enjoying U.S. tax benefits, their tax-exempt status should be revoked immediately,” Smith said. “We’re going to follow the money and demand accountability to put a stop to Beijing’s exploitation of our tax-exempt sector.”

Andrew Mark Miller is a reporter at Fox News. Find him on Twitter @andymarkmiller and email tips to AndrewMark.Miller@Fox.com.

Far-left nonprofits in the hot seat as lawmaker exposes them for ‘sowing chaos’ in US

FIRST ON FOX: Hours before banging the gavel to commence a hearing Tuesday to investigate the dynamic of “malign foreign influence,” House Committee on Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith escalated his investigation into the China-based, American-born Marxist tech tycoon, Neville Roy Singham, who has allegedly been “sowing chaos and spreading Chinese propaganda, possibly in coordination with a foreign government.”

Fox News Digital has obtained copies of letters that Smith sent on Monday night to two U.S. nonprofits – BreakThrough BT Media Inc. and Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research – demanding records of their ties to Singham and alleging they are promoting propaganda aligned with the Chinese Communist Party.

At 10 a.m. on Tuesday, Smith will chair a hearing called, “Foreign Influence in American Non-profits: Unmasking Threats from Beijing and Beyond.” The hearing will be broadcast online at the committee’s website. Singham, Tricontinental and BreakThrough BT Media, which publishes articles as “BreakThrough News,” didn’t respond to requests for comment.

ANTI-ICE ‘DIGITAL MINUTEMEN’ USE MILITARY-GRADE SURVEILLANCE TACTICS AGAINST FEDS

“Tax-exempt status is a privilege not a right,” Smith told Fox News Digital. “Nonprofits must remain accountable and refuse to act as instruments of hostile foreign governments.”

In his letter to Karla Reyes, chair and director of BreakThrough, Smith wrote that he was “disturbed by the connections between BreakThrough and Chinese Communist Party linked organizations” and launched an inquiry into whether the outlet deserves its 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status.

Smith emphasized that the investigation is not about suppressing speech but about whether nonprofit protections are being abused. He wrote that, under federal law, “if more than an insubstantial part of an organization’s activities is not in furtherance of a tax-exempt purpose…the organization is not operated exclusively for such exempt purpose.” He cited Supreme Court precedent stating that “the presence of a single nonexempt purpose, if substantial in nature, will destroy the exemption regardless of the number or importance of truly exempt purposes.”

In the letter, Smith warned that receiving funding from “an individual who lives in Shanghai, maintains business ties with companies and individuals linked to the CCP, works with and physically alongside a foreign propaganda company, and attends CCP forums on how to promote the party abroad” raises “serious questions” about whether BreakThrough qualifies as an “agent of a foreign principal” under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

THE FAR-LEFT NETWORK THAT HELPED PUT ALEX PRETTI IN HARM’S WAY, THEN MADE HIM A MARTYR

Since its inception, he noted that BreakThrough has produced and distributed content that “aligns with pro-CCP rhetoric across both the United States and the globe.” Following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attack on Israel, Smith wrote that BreakThrough News “dramatically shifted their coverage in a way that suggests its intent on sowing division within the United States,” while portraying China in an “overwhelmingly positive light.”

As reported, BreakThrough was one of the first social media accounts to publish the video of the killing of anti-ICE demonstrator Alex Pretti.

The investigation places BreakThrough within a broader network that includes Tricontinental, the People’s Forum, the Party for Socialism and Liberation and the ANSWER Coalition, groups that Fox News Digital has documented working alongside organizations such as the Democratic Socialists of America to mobilize protests, train “rapid responders” and flood social media with coordinated narratives during flashpoint events, from immigration enforcement actions to the arrest of Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro.

BreakThrough was also one of the first social media accounts to publish video of the U.S. strike over Caracas when Maduro was arrested.

SECOND FRONT: HOW A SOCIALIST CELL IN THE US MOBILIZED PRO-MADURO FOOT SOLDIERS WITHIN 12 HOURS

In his letter to Vijay Prashad, executive director of Tricontinental, Smith said that he was “disturbed by the connections between yourself, Tricontinental and organizations linked to the CCP.” He described Tricontinental as an organization that has been “responsible for spreading Marxist and anti-American rhetoric across both the United States and the globe,” and possibly “sowing chaos and spreading Chinese propaganda, possibly in coordination with a foreign government.”

Committee investigators tied Prashad directly to Chinese state-linked institutions, noting his role as a senior fellow at a think tank connected to China’s Ministry of Education and his participation in conferences hosted by universities funded by the Chinese Communist Party. He also detailed Tricontinental’s financial relationship with Maku Group, a Chinese media company whose stated mission is to “tell China’s story well,” and disclosed that Tricontinental paid the firm more than $2.1 million for “research, analysis, and translation services.”

The committee also documented Tricontinental’s deep financial and structural ties to Singham, noting that the organization received millions of dollars from entities linked to him, employs his son as a researcher and lists Singham as chair of its international advisory board. Multiple reports, Smith wrote, have found that Tricontinental is “part of Mr. Singham’s network of non-profit organizations that serve as his conduits to spread pro-CCP narratives,” including media outlets where Prashad appears regularly.

Researchers say the nonprofits under scrutiny engage in a dynamic known as “narrative convergence,” echoing the propaganda of foreign adversaries. In a new report, the Network Contagion Research Institute, based in Princeton, N.J., documented how the Democratic Socialists of America sent delegations to China, Cuba and Venezuela and then, upon returning to the United States, deployed slogans at protests that mirror the anti-U.S. rhetoric of those governments.

The institute concluded that the Democratic Socialists of America “exhibits multiple indicators” warranting scrutiny as a foreign lobbyist. Democratic Socialists of America didn’t return a request for comment.

Smith echoed those concerns in his Tricontinental letter, warning that the People’s Forum and allied groups “continued to organize protests aligned with Chinese talking points,” including demonstrations that “turned violent in Minnesota.”

National security analysts say the hearing represents a critical moment in what they describe as a new cognitive war, in which foreign adversaries seek to weaponize outrage, protest and information to weaken the United States from within.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Far-left group with foreign ties undermining US under guise of protest, report warns

Late last month, after the killing of local Minneapolis resident Alex Pretti by federal agents working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, MS NOW interviewed a protester identified as “Andrew” who said he flew in from Colorado to help drive the feds out of the city.

Hours later, the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) framed the killing as a “murder,” identified “Andrew” as “DSA National Political Committee member Andrew, @andrewized who “joined community members in Minneapolis today, to protest the murder of Alex Pretti. ‘We are going to beat the Trump administration.’”

Soon after, in a rhetorical stab at law enforcement officials, the local chapter organized a training on personal protective equipment to use against what “the pigs are using.”

A week later, media outlets reported that “demonstrators” were protesting at a Target store in the Dinkytown neighborhood of Minneapolis, demanding the company stop supporting the alleged “campaign of terror that ICE is waging” against area residents and workers.

Soon enough, the official Instagram account of the local DSA chapter published a post, boasting about how its members “hosted an ICE Out of MN action that shut down the Target in Dinkytown!” On camera, Minneapolis City Council member Robin Wonsley proudly described herself as “minority leader of the Democratic Socialists caucus” and said openly she was “joining tons of socialists” to blast Target and ICE.

In Boston, as agitators compared ICE to Hitler’s Gestapo, a demonstrator wearing a Democratic Socialists of America hat carried a sign depicting an eagle similar to the logo of the Nazis, only with “ICE” written on it.

Then, this weekend, as students skipped school in the Los Angeles Unified School District, the Los Angeles DSA chapter lauded how its adult members “stood in solidarity with” the students to “demand an end to ICE raids.”

The messaging campaign against U.S. federal authorities isn’t coincidental, according to a scathing new report by the Network Contagion Research Institute, a research nonprofit based in Princeton, N.J. The report found the DSA’s rhetoric matches the anti-U.S. propaganda of foreign adversaries. The finding is important as the organization amasses more political power in the U.S., with wins like longtime member Zohran Mamdani’s election as mayor of New York City.

“The same rhetoric used to attack America abroad gets recycled at home to attack American law enforcement. Different stage, same script,” said Adam Sohn, co-founder of the Network Contagion Research Institute, which has a staff of neuroscientists, computer engineers, data analysts, psychologists and open-source analysts doing deep analysis on “malicious narratives,” threats and malign foreign influence.

“The language doesn’t stop overseas,” Sohn said.

Sohn is scheduled to testify Tuesday at a 10 a.m. hearing before the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, titled, “Foreign Influence in American Non-profits: Unmasking Threats from Beijing and Beyond.” The hearing will be broadcast online at the committee’s website. Democratic Socialists of America didn’t respond to a request for comment.

ANTI-ICE ‘DIGITAL MINUTEMEN’ USE MILITARY-GRADE SURVEILLANCE TACTICS AGAINST FEDS

According to the Network Contagion Research Institute’s new report, “Democratic Socialists of America: Policy, Advocacy and Narrative Convergence with Hostile Foreign States,” the organization has been engaging in a dynamic called “narrative convergence,” advancing narratives that stoke domestic unrest and delegitimize state institutions while advancing talking points aligned with “hostile foreign governments.”

One of the messages it regularly puts on posters equates the Trump administration to “fascism,” declaring, “Socialism Beats Fascism.”

WATCH: HARDCORE SOCIALIST GROUPS STAGE-MANAGE ANTI-ICE PROTEST IN WASHINGTON

For example, this network coordinated last month to demand a “National Shutdown,” with a “General Strike,” a typical communist tactic to force a state into economic failure. DSA is also actively engaged in the network that is training “rapid responders” and “observers” to trail, monitor and document law enforcement movements in at least 13 databases that military and intelligence experts call a serious national security threat.

In the report, the institute concludes that DSA “exhibits multiple indicators” that warrant registration under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. It currently receives benefits registered as a nonprofit under Section 501(c)(4) of the tax code.

The report cites “repeated foreign-facilitated engagements, receipt of apparent in-kind benefits, and subsequent U.S. political advocacy aligned with the interests of the Venezuelan, Cuban and Chinese governments.”

The researchers say DSA applies “the same anti-legitimacy frame to domestic enforcement and to U.S. foreign-policy posture.”

The demonstrations, the report finds, “explicitly link domestic immigration enforcement to broader U.S. foreign policy actions.”

‘WHITE SAVIORS” USE OF WHISTLES CAUSES BITTER INTERNAL RIFT INSIDE ANTI-ICE MOVEMENT

The institute documents that chapters organized rallies using slogans such as “No ICE, No War,” “ICE Out for Good” and “Hands Off Venezuela,” framing ICE as “an instrument of domestic state terror that mirrors U.S. imperialism abroad.”

It’s also trained its members to also blow whistles as “rapid responders,” tracking law enforcement officers.

Over the past year, activists affiliated with DSA and groups including the Singham network portrayed ICE raids as “extensions of the same hegemonic project that bombs foreign nations for resource control, while domestic enforcement terrorizes vulnerable communities.”

According to the Network Contagion Research Institute, this rhetoric reflects a consistent ideological structure.

Its analysis found that DSA “employs a consistent anti-legitimacy and moralized resistance framing toward state enforcement across both foreign and domestic contexts,” using “the same narrative structures to defend sanctioned foreign regimes abroad and to delegitimize U.S. enforcement institutions at home.”

The report connects the domestic messaging to the organization’s extensive foreign engagement. It documents six delegations sent by DSA to Venezuela, Cuba and China since 2021, involving official invitations, government-linked hosts, luxury accommodations, transportation and meetings with senior regime officials, including Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro and Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel.

The report said that after the trips, the DSA engaged in “coordinated, time-locked advocacy and messaging that directly advanced foreign regime priorities, including anti-sanctions campaigns and electoral defenses.”

After a trip to China, the report documented, the Democratic Socialists of America’s “International Committee” hosted an event in late 2021, headlined, “NO COLD WAR: OPPOSING…US ESCALATION ON CHINA.” After a trip to Cuba, the report noted, the organization hosted an event to stop the U.S. economic blockade on Cuba, titled, “How to break the Blockade.”

After the U.S. extradited Maduro to the U.S. in early June, DSA joined other groups in the socialist network with protests against the “kidnapping.”

SENATOR CALLS OUT ‘GRASSROOTS’ ANTI-ICE GROUPS, URGES DOJ INVESTIGATION INTO ‘COORDINATED NATIONAL OPERATION’

Over months of reporting, Fox News Digital has documented how far-left socialist, Marxist and communist networks, aligned with foreign interests, have funded, organized and stage-managed street protests, using carefully coordinated messaging, social media amplification and nonprofit funding streams to allegedly launder ideological narratives into mainstream media coverage as if they are “grassroots” and “organic.”

The DSA and allied groups, including the People’s Forum and other groups in the Singham network, have acted as logistical chiefs, field marshals, amplifiers and message disciplinarians, busing members to protests, creating digital tool kits and mass-producing pre-printed signs they hand out to demonstrators, shaping protest narratives for the cause célèbre of the day, according to reporting.

From Israel to Tesla, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), ICE, police, Venezuela or other headlines, researchers say these street protests and propaganda cast the U.S. as “terrorists,” “genocide” enablers, the “Gestapo,” “Nazi” and other smears that echo language used by anti-U.S. authoritarian regimes abroad to delegitimize the U.S. as “imperialist” “colonizers” that must be dismantled through a “resistance.”

To assess whether this overlap was incidental, analysts at the Network Contagion Research Institute conducted a large-scale analysis of DSA communications using classifications based on “large language model.”

The institute coded domestic anti-ICE activism and foreign-policy advocacy to assess “blame attribution,” “legitimacy framing” and policy prescriptions, finding a “consistent pattern of blame convergence on U.S. institutions across all contexts.”

It described it as evidence of a “shared narrative structure rather than issue-specific framing.”

In its assessment, that convergence carries broader implications.

WHEN ANTI-ICE CLASHES TRIGGER FEDERAL INTERVENTION — EXPERTS EXPLAIN THE CONSTITUTIONAL BREAKING POINT

The report concludes that “the anti-ICE movement, much of it under DSA direction, serves as a domestic front in a global conflict between states,” and that the organization promotes a narrative vision that “absolutely converges with the interests of Venezuela, Cuba and China.”

The Network Contagion Research Institute emphasized that its findings don’t allege criminal wrongdoing but state that the pattern of conduct, narrative alignment and foreign engagement “warrants further scrutiny,” particularly as protests continue, and congressional investigators investigate a phenomenon known as “malign foreign influence” operating inside the United States.

The Tuesday hearing will feature testimony from multiple experts focused on malign foreign influence and nonprofit transparency.

With a majority of the seats in the House of Representatives, Republican lawmakers have five witnesses: Sohn; Scott Walter, president of Capital Research Center; Caitlin Sutherland, executive director of Americans for Public Trust; and Bruce Dubinsky, founder of Dubinsky Consulting. Robert Weissman, co-president of Public Citizen, is scheduled to speak as a witness on behalf of Democratic lawmakers.

Illustrating its synchronicity with foreign adversaries questioning the legitimacy of the U.S. government, the DSA’s local chapter in Minneapolis bragged in a new Facebook post on Sunday that “ICE’s legitimacy is dwindling” but cautioned “their terror continues.”

It’s promoting a digital toolkit among members with pre-scripted messages, signs and “community letter” for another anti-ICE action on Feb. 11 against the “violent federal immigration enforcement surge” that has been “destabilizing communities, and is violating our freedom across the country.”

The DSA’s target: more Target stores.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

‘White saviors” use of whistles causes bitter internal rift inside anti-ICE movement

Immigrant groups have a message for their mostly White allies: Quit blowing the whistle on ICE.

Fox News Digital has reviewed days of messages inside Signal chat rooms that reveal that a new internal feud has erupted inside the anti-ICE protest industry, pitting immigrant-led organizations against predominately White “rapid response” networks that have made whistle-blowing a dramatic part of anti-ICE protests.

In one dismissal, a “rapid responder” in Seattle reported back that “immigrant networks are being weird.”

Groups from Seattle to Montgomery County, Md., are telling mostly White “rapid responders” to back off a dynamic described by activists as “White Savior,” reminding them they are not cameo actors in an “action movie” against ICE.

This past weekend, the Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network — known locally as “WAISN,” a Seattle-based, immigrant-led organization, publicly rebuked the practice of whistles, setting off a backlash inside mostly White liberal activist “rapid response” circles.

“WHY WAISN RAPID RESPONSE DOES NOT USE WHISTLES,” the group wrote in an Instagram post, emphasizing, “We show up with care and accountability, not noise or panic.”

“It is not about being the loudest, the bravest, or the most visible person on the scene or confronting immigration agents. It is a commitment to non-violence, discipline and harm reduction, centering the well-being of the most vulnerable immigrant and refugee committees in Washington,” the post continued.

The message amounted to a blunt directive: Put away the whistles.

THE FAR-LEFT NETWORK THAT HELPED PUT ALEX PRETTI IN HARM’S WAY, THEN MADE HIM A MARTYR

Fox News Digital reviewed internal Signal chat messages from Seattle-area rapid response groups showing that the rejection of whistles triggered open hostility.

“We believe in whistles, people want whistles. Nothing change [sic] no matter what WAISN says,” one participant wrote in a group called “WA Whistles.”

The dispute escalated when Snohomish County Indivisible in Washington state told followers this week it would follow the guidance and “pause distribution of whistle kits.” The local group is a chapter of the powerful national nonprofit, Indivisible, which has received $7.26 million from 2018 through 2023 from billionaire George Soros’s Open Society Foundations, which is aligned with the Democratic Party.

In a striking admission, the Indivisible chapter warned against activists positioning themselves as rescuers, falling into a “‘White Savior’ dynamic.” It added bold-faced type to get its point across.

“The use of whistles is complex, and we recognize this decision may be disappointing,” the Indivisible chapter said. “It is essential that we avoid falling into a ‘White Savior’ dynamic, centering ourselves as rescuers, acting on communities rather than with them, or prioritizing feeling helpful over building real, shared power.”

For months, whistle-blowing has been a favored tactic among mostly white rapid responders in cities including Minneapolis, Chicago, New York and Seattle. Activists have used whistles to alert neighborhoods to the presence of federal immigration agents, disrupt operations and create public pressure.

In the Seattle group, a “rapid responder” dismissed the group’s concerns as “vaguely condescending,” arguing that while whistles might be “traumatizing,” they were surely “no worse than being actually kidnapped, or watching it happen in front of your house.”

Others framed the immigrant-led nonprofit as self-interested and risk-averse. One person sneered at the “immigrant rights nonprofit business,” while another complained about “careerists at nonprofits” who don’t put the “cause over their job.”

The Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network is a tax-deductible organization under 501(c)(3) of the tax code, raising $3 million in revenues in 2024, according to its latest publicly available tax filing. Indivisible Project is a 501(c)(4) political nonprofit that raised $10.4 million in 2024, according to its latest tax filing. It has a political 501(c)(3) nonprofit, Indivisible Civics Inc., that raised $5.2 million in 2024, according to its most recent tax filing.

A separate comment derided long-term nonprofit workers as drinking the “koolaid,” labeling nonviolent, disciplined approaches as “fed coded.”

WA Whistles told Fox News Digital the group “respects” the local immigrant organization’s decision “not to use whistles in their rapid response.” It added: “Individual comments made in our chats do not reflect WA Whistles as a whole. We respect everyone’s first amendment right to express themselves.”

DEAN PHILLIPS: WE CAN FIX IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT WITHOUT FUELING CHAOS OR LAWLESSNESS

Some activists, who referred to themselves as “print dwarves” for producing whistles on 3-D printers, said they would remove the group’s contact number from their materials. Only a few participants pushed back on the criticism, one saying she was “very uncomfortable” with the “derogatory remarks” directed at the immigrant organization.

Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network, for its part, was explicit about the stakes. In Washington state, the group said, whistle tactics have “increased fear, drawn unwanted attention, and interfered with rapid response efforts.” It didn’t respond to a request for comment.

“We are committed to taking direction from organizations with the longevity, trust and expertise in this work—experience we simply do not have, nor would we presume to know better,” the statement said.

CCP-CONNECTED MILLIONAIRE ALLEGEDLY BANKROLLS MINNEAPOLIS AGITATOR GROUPS THROUGH DARK MONEY NETWORK

The controversy also exposes ideological fault lines. Since last summer, groups including the People’s Forum, the Party for Socialism and Liberation and the Democratic Socialists of America have promoted whistles as part of a broader confrontation with U.S. law enforcement. They have borrowed from whistle-blowing tactics used by socialist and communist labor union groups in Europe.

The People’s Forum and the Party for Socialism and Liberation are funded by an American-born tech tycoon, Neville Roy Singham, who lives in Shanghai and supports groups that have made it their business to foment mayhem and protests in the United States, with a pro-China agenda.

In one post, the Party for Socialism and Liberation declared, “Hear a whistle? That just might be ICE!” The Seattle whistle group uses templates that the People’s Forum distributes through a group, “ICE Out of New York.”

The Washington state group echoed a warning from immigrant-led groups in Maryland who issued an anti-whistle edict last month, pointedly speaking to “white allies” who they reminded weren’t playing cameo roles in an “action movie,” with their whistles as weapons of power and authority.

In an Instagram post, the Montgomery County Immigrant Rights Collective published an anti-whistle message — “WHY WE DON’T USE WHISTLES IN RAPID RESPONSE — with other local immigrant-led groups, including the Central Maryland Immigrant Rights Collective, the Prince George’s County Immigrant Rights Collective, the “Immigration Coalition,” “Migrant Solidarity Mutual Aid” and “UndocuRebels.” The groups didn’t return a request for comment.

“Especially for white allies,” they wrote, “whistles can represent a subconscious desire for authority, protection or control in moments of crisis, but rapid response is not about assuming authority. It is about showing up for your community with discipline, humility, and restraint when we question decisions made by those impacted, we risk centering our own comfort instead of impacted people.”

They noted, “Loudness does not equal effectiveness.”

“START WITH REALITY (NOT HEROICS),” they wrote, with the soundtrack of a popular protest song, “Que me devuelvan la tierra,” which means “Give me back my land.”

They wrote, “This is not an action movie. You are not in a one-on-one fight with ICE.”

Adding bold emphasis, they noted, “And you are not the center of this situation.”

They noted that its anti-whistle position was shaped by speaking to “120+ community members” with families who have “lived through ICE, detention, surveillance and state violence.” After consulting community members, the conclusion was unanimous: do not use whistles.

DEMOCRATIC OFFICIALS, TIKTOKERS, LIBERALS TAKE THEIR ANTI-ICE RHETORIC TO THE NEXT LEVEL

The Maryland coalition warned that whistles can “escalate already volatile ICE agents,” “make it harder to document and capture information,” “increase the likelihood of aggression toward bystanders or the detained person” and “create confusion” for community members and children.

They also pointed to disproportionate impacts on “Black and Brown communities” that are already “overexposed to chronic noise pollution,” which they linked to PTSD, anxiety, sleep disruption and heart disease.

Perhaps most pointedly, the group rejected the symbolism itself. Whistles, it said, are historically associated with military and police operations, including “repression, raids and disappearances,” especially in developing countries.

“They were not tools used by communities under oppression, they were tools used against them,” they said, emphasizing their point in bold.

In the new clash between immigrant-led groups and mostly white activist allies, immigrant leaders warned that the tactics meant to signal solidarity can just as easily reproduce the sounds of “state power.”

But in the trenches, the mostly White “allies” continued diminishing the guidance, saying they were going to continue, business as usual, blowing their whistles.

By mid-week, WA Whistles made its stubborn position public, posting a message on its Instagram, saying, “WHISTLES WORK.”

“They are a call to courage and a decision to care out loud,” it declared, laying claim to the moral high ground.

One user then asked for “more bright-colored whistles that can work around the neck as a symbol of resistance that everyone can see as they go about their day.”

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Anti-ICE ‘digital Minutemen’ use military-grade surveillance tactics against feds

Early last week, FBI Director Kash Patel announced that the bureau is investigating the use of the encrypted Signal messaging platform by “ICE Watch” activists to track and block federal immigration enforcement.

Just days later, Jill Garvey, co-founder of a group called “States at the Core,” logged into a Zoom webinar to train a new crop of “rapid responders” on a military-grade intelligence gathering method called “SALUTE.” An acronym for Size, Activity, Location, Uniform, Time, Equipment, SALUTE is a mnemonic device that typically instructs soldiers how to systematically track details about enemies. Garvey framed the work as operational surveillance against agents she had called “mercenaries” in an interview days earlier.

“We are all ICE Watch!” declared Garvey, whose group is funded by the Hopewell Fund, a dark-money organization aligned with the Democratic Party. She added a boast that she’s taught 40,000 “rapid responders” this past year.

Garvey is just one of hundreds of anti-government operatives training agitators to interfere with federal law enforcement. Last Saturday, Manola De Los Santos, co-founder of the People’s Forum – a Marxist-Leninist organization funded by a China-based tech tycoon, Neville Roy Singham, with documented ties to the Chinese Communist Party – hosted an all-day “People’s Assembly for ICE Out of NY!” at the group’s headquarters on W. 37th Street.

“Adopt a corner!” leaders urged, instructing attendees to conduct surveillance tactics at fixed locations.

That same day, at about 4 p.m. ET, a user on one of 37 Signal chats operated by the “Seattle Area Rapid Response” network shared a copy of the “Mini-Manual Of The Urban Guerrilla,” a 67-page Marxist manifesto outlining the use of “mobile units,” “surprise,” “knowledge of the terrain,” “occupation,” “mobility and speed,” a “clandestine press,” “popular support” and “street tactics,” such as “constructing barricades,” “throwing bottles” and ultimately using lethal weapons, to wage a “revolutionary armed struggle” against the United States.

The user directed fellow “rapid responders” to page 35 for “security level questions.” There, the manual advised recording a “daily information service” on “what the enemy appears to be doing, where the police net is operating and what points are being watched.”

A Fox News Digital investigation reveals these groups are part of a nationwide web of at least 200 anti-ICE organizations that are building a civilian intelligence-gathering and “rapid response” system that trains, mobilizes and activates civilians to act as on-the-ground scouts, using the SALUTE method to collect data on federal authorities they cast as the “enemy,” raising serious national security concerns.

In intelligence circles, they would be called “collectors” in the craft of “human intelligence, or “HUMINT.”

Fox News Digital has established that these national operations feed data about the movements of law enforcement and immigration authorities into at least 13 sophisticated databases, storing highly sensitive information, including license plate numbers, timestamps, geolocation data, uniform details, photographs, behavior patterns and, in at least one case, the names, email addresses and phone numbers of federal authorities. The network operates through at least 18 hubs nationwide in largely Democratic states and cities, coordinating traffic, verification and reporting.

GUN-WIELDING ICE AGENTS BRUSH BACK MINNEAPOLIS AGITATORS

“This is mind-blowing. We have an entire nation of collectors against our country’s law enforcement. It’s extremely dangerous,” said retired U.S. Army Green Beret Eric Schwalm, who first learned the SALUTE framework as a newly enlisted Army private, later applying it during patrols in Iraq as he fought an insurgency and then in Afghanistan as he trained Northern Alliance fighters to defeat the Taliban government.

After reviewing the civilian training, operations and databases uncovered by Fox News Digital, he said, “If Iraqi resistance ran this level of operation against us, we couldn’t have stayed past 2007. They didn’t even need to shoot at us. Protests like this would have created a narrative nightmare.”

Indeed, these stakeouts have not only become deadly, with the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, but they have led to many confrontations and most often put federal authorities on the losing end of a narrative war. On Tuesday, a group of “rapid responders” in “Minnesota Ice Watch” tailed ICE agents so closely with their vehicles that agents ordered them — at gunpoint — to stop their cars, before handcuffing and detaining them.

At a recent anti-ICE training webinar, Gabe Gonzalez, a co-founder of “Protect Rogers Park,” a neighborhood anti-ICE group in north Chicago that pioneered the “rapid response” alerts, coaxed the webinar’s attendees to take risks, complimenting them as “courageous.” His group includes SALUTE in its “SOP,” or standing operating procedures, to “protect targeted locations,” like churches and food pantries, and organize “Remote Responders” stationed at “cafes and shops,” “near windows of major throughways” and other “sensitive areas.”

CCP-CONNECTED MILLIONAIRE ALLEGEDLY BANKROLLS MINNEAPOLIS AGITATOR GROUPS THROUGH DARK MONEY NETWORK

Raising particular national security concerns, the network includes foot soldiers and leaders of the ANSWER Coalition and the Party for Socialism and Liberation, two professional protest organizations in the Singham network that openly support the People’s Republic of China as an ideal state and declare they seek to dismantle the “hyper-imperialism” of the “American empire” from inside the “belly of the beast.” The organizations didn’t return requests for comment.

Several congressional committees are investigating Singham’s network, which now includes “ICE Out of New York.” That group tells donors online: “Yes, your donation is tax-deductible. We are collecting donations through The People’s Forum which is a 501(c)3 not for profit organization. . . .” As part of its efforts, its leaders created a slick “Migra Whistle Instructional Zine,” with the SALUTE method detailed under the header: “SPREAD INFORMATION, NOT PANIC.”

“FORM A CROWD. STAY LOUD,” the flyer instructed its scouts.

In upstate New York, Rafael Concepcion, a former assistant teaching professor of photography at Syracuse University, told Fox News Digital he plans to launch “a score” of new ICE tracking databases built from a mapping platform he published last year, called “DEICER” for “Diversity Equity Inclusion Community Engagement Reporter.”

Concepcion said he wanted to build a “network of digital minutemen,” the elite hand-picked rapid-deployment force who were part of the New England colonial militia, ready at a “minute’s notice” to scout British Army locations during the American Revolution, often times before skirmishes broke out.

In today’s scenario, U.S. federal authorities are the target. Concepcion said “the use of the SALUTE method” is to differentiate between local police and federal immigration officers.

“One of the things that our constitution has tried to be able to provide is an avenue for individuals to make sure that they are aware of any kind of tyrannical government,” he said. “If we are supposed to be able to guard against foreign and domestic, there should be a mechanism for us to be able to identify that.

Already, Siembar NC, a 501(c)(4) political nonprofit based in Charlotte, N.C., with $2.5 million in revenue in its last tax filing, has launched the DEICER database in North Carolina on a platform called OjoNC. “Ojo” means “eyes” in Spanish. Further north, LUCE Immigration Justice Network of Massachusetts, a project of Neighbor to Neighbor MA Education Fund, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, has activated Concepcion’s mapping database. In Chicago, he developed “Windbreaker” for local groups to use. The groups didn’t respond to requests for comment.

In a near-identical training last week, Garvey’s session unfolded like a field briefing. She pressed new recruits to assess whether they were observing “a tactical unit,” identify “types of munitions and how much” and determine whether officers were moving in “four, two, four, or six-man formations.” She emphasized the importance of corroboration, instructing participants to “gather more people to confirm what you’re seeing.”

Garvey outlined three defined operational roles — recorder, supporter and monitor — and instructed participants to carry whistles with coded signals. Three blasts indicated an ICE operation in progress. Participants were told to wear the whistles visibly, so others would recognize that they were “part of the team.” Garvey urged them to rehearse at home what to do if stopped by police.

WATCH: HARDCORE SOCIALIST GROUPS STAGE-MANAGE ANTI-ICE PROTEST IN WASHINGTON

Unassuming in appearance, with well-coiffed blonde hair and a soft-spoken, timid delivery style, Garvey defended the surveillance during the webinar, saying the targets were “public officials.”

A spokesperson for the Hopewell Fund said in a statement, “States at the Core provides training for people to lawfully and peacefully observe law enforcement in their communities, and Hopewell is proud to be their fiscal sponsor.”

Some of the databases have drawn the attention of a counterforce of independent programmers and technology specialists — including anonymous X users with handles such as @astrarce and @b****uneedsoap — who have attempted to disrupt or shut them down. At least one database has gone offline. Others remain active and continue to grow.

The activities of these surveillance networks potentially violate multiple federal laws. Federal statutes, such as 18 U.S.C. § 115 and 18 U.S.C. § 2261A, protect federal agents from threats and stalking, and violations connected to obstructing, striking or resisting federal agents are felonies.

In Washington State, the Seattle-area rapid response network has spawned 35 separate Signal chats. In Minnesota, there are at least 20 Signal chats. In Rhode Island, the Alliance to Mobilize Our Resistance sends out alerts over the WhatsApp messaging platform.

From there, the intelligence flows into databases.

Last June, Dominick Skinner, reportedly an Irish immigration activist based in the Netherlands, first published one of the most egregious databases, “ICE List,” documenting the names, photos, addresses, email addresses and phone numbers of ICE and Border Patrol agents, in a bid to hold them “legally accountable.” The list has grown to an estimated 4,500 entries.

He calls the database a new “journalistic” project of “Crust News,” a Substack newsletter that has published articles against the “dictatorship” of “the USA’s fascist regime” and the “terrorism” of its “modern Gestapo.”

In his “incident” report, Skinner specifically asks for “clear views of agents, uniforms, vehicles or locations.”

Within minutes, Skinner responded to a request for comment but refused to answer any questions, including about his ideological motivation or funding sources, instead railing against the “fascist media sphere in the USA” and noting “your questions will be shared with the public.”

THE FAR-LEFT NETWORK THAT HELPED PUT ALEX PRETTI IN HARM’S WAY, THEN MADE HIM A MARTYR

In Minnesota, the developers of the “MN ICE Plates” database use the language of socialist and communist networks to describe themselves as operating in “occupied Minnesota.” It’s supported by “Defend the 612,” the area code for Minneapolis, and its dispatchers sent “rapid responders,” including local resident Alex Pretti, to the Glam Doll Donut shop on Nicollet Avenue, in the hour before his confrontation with federal officials and killing, according to Fox News Digital reporting.

Over the past week, since the FBI investigation launched into the backend surveillance tactics on federal officials, the database entries have almost doubled to 5,397 records of “confirmed” and “highly suspected” ICE vehicles and agents, with photos, locations, timestamps, and cross-referenced sightings. The database says it is “documenting & resisting against ICE, police, & all colonial militarized regimes,” inspired by “movements towards liberation.”

The data crisscrosses the nation. This past Sunday, at 7:03 p.m. ET, a user filed a “Critical” report on IceOut.org, a web-based reporting platform run by the Pueblo Project Foundation as part of its “People Over Papers” initiative, documenting “possible ICE activity.”

Earlier that day, on Arnett Street in Elizabeth, N.J., a user alleged that “3 men took a female. There were 4 different cars,” reporting the incident as “Immigration Enforcement” and uploading photographs of the vehicles and alleged agents. Pueblo Project Foundation didn’t return a request for comment.

The “RESIST” platform, whose developers say their database “flips the script on surveillance,” using “facial recognition and biometric tracking.”

“Mask or not, they can’t hide anymore,” the platform promises, calling itself “civilian-powered intelligence” that “exposes bad actors” and “empowers direct action, public exposure and psychological disruption.”

Another platform, ICEInMyArea.org, created by anonymous developers who didn’t respond to a request for comment, says it has 4,000 daily visitors with human reviews of new reports, making it “one of the most reliable tools for tracking ICE activity nationwide.”

But its developers promise users “completely anonymous” privacy.

Under “Recent Reports” over the past 24 hours, it details “ICE sighted in New Britain, CT,” on Corbin Avenue near a McDonald’s, “ice agents using the target parking lot” on Colorado Boulevard in Los Angeles “as a base” and a silver Ford Explorer with “no front plate, whited-out/covered rear plate” on N. Aviation Boulevard in Manhattan Beach, Calif.

FBI INVESTIGATING MINNESOTA ANTI-ICE SIGNAL GROUP CHATS, PATEL SAYS

On the East Coast, Ahmad Perez, a former Biden administration political appointee and founder of Islip Forward, launched “Long Island ICE Tracker” to document “individuals and vehicles” in public, with “no reasonable expectation of privacy.” He “strictly prohibited” the use of the information to “harass, threaten, intimidate, stalk, doxx or interfere” with “any person” or their “lawful activities.”

Thursday on the site, Perez bragged “574 Verified Sightings” in the database, with a new listing at 1 p.m. of a weathered black Ford vehicle on Nottingham Avenue in Patchogue, N.Y., a decal saying “POLICE INTERCEPTOR” on the rear back door.

“Attempts to label community transparency efforts as ‘illegal’ or ‘surveillance’ often reflect discomfort with accountability rather than genuine concern for ethics or safety,” Perez told Fox News Digital. “Oversight, documentation and public awareness are not threats to democracy — they are foundational to it.”

Online tools even generate QR-codes for SALUTE templates that standardize civilian intelligence collection nationwide.

In Minnesota, the Workers Defense Alliance of Twin Cities, a socialist group whose website features a graphic of Minneapolis police’s Third Precinct on fire, teaches SALUTE and a Spanish alternative, “ALERTA,” for “Activity, Location, Equipment, Response requested, Time and date, Appearance.” It pitches the framework as “community defense” while explicitly teaching structured surveillance. Its leaders didn’t return a request for comment.

“ICE Watch RI” and Alerta de Migra operate in Rhode Island with the Party for Socialism and Liberation, combining protest mobilization with logged sightings of federal officers.

The creator of another database — “Deportation Tracker” — said he puts in place “strict policies and moderation” so that any content that violates anyone’s privacy is “rejected immediately.” Identifying himself as Sam Fletcher, a high school student, he said, “The platform does not represent any civilian intelligence and surveillance operation. Everything that is submitted must go through a human review before being posted to the site. We don’t allow any names, images or licence plates allowed on the site. Nothing that is personally identifiable to anyone.”

“Any doxxing, harassing or stalking is unacceptable,” he said.

Still, critics say, the database has the information for users to violate Fletcher’s “terms of service.”

Meanwhile, in Portland, “Anti-Facist Aktion” hosts a “PDX ICE/DHS License Plates Community Surveillance Database,” claiming to host 627 records. Its developers couldn’t be reached for comment. It notes: “WARNING: THIS INFORMATION IS DANGEROUS TO AUTHORITY.”

Garvey, the blonde anti-ICE mom, leads new trainings every several days. In an interview with Wajahat Ali, the host of a podcast called “The Left Hook,” Ali lauded Garvey’s strategy: “Your camera is your weapon.”

Overnight, local residents in the Seattle Signal chats got alerts that they would have their first “Seattle rapid response drill” on Sunday between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. local time.

The announcement will “follow the standard SALUTE format” to instruct responders where to go.

The alert warned: “don’t be running red lights to get there first, don’t be blowing whistles once you arrive.”

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

WATCH: Hardcore socialist groups stage-manage anti-ICE protest in Washington

A network of self-described socialist and communist organizations staged carefully coordinated protests across the country Friday targeting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, but their call for a nationwide shutdown of work, school and commerce mostly fizzled out.

Several of the groups behind the demonstrations are linked to a constellation of nonprofits funded by tech tycoon Neville Roy Singham, according to an ongoing Fox News Digital investigation. Singham, who lives in China and has publicly espoused Marxist ideology, has used his extensive network to promote pro–Chinese Communist Party messaging.

Fox News Digital was on hand in Washington, D.C., as activists converged near the Gallery Place–Chinatown Metro station at 7th and H Street NW. At 2:49 p.m. A vehicle drove up to an alley near a Walgreens, where a small group of activists from the local chapter of the Party for Socialism and Liberation unloaded dozens of bright yellow protest signs stapled to wooden pickets.

The Party for Socialism and Liberation is a self-described Marxist organization that has played a central role in past anti-police and anti-ICE demonstrations.

DOZENS ARRESTED AFTER PROTESTERS TAKE OVER NYC HOTEL LOBBY DURING ANTI-ICE DEMONSTRATION

The foot soldiers handed out the signs near the Chinatown Metro station, next to a Planet Fitness.

At 3 p.m. sharp – the scheduled start time – one of the Party for Socialism and Liberation’s leaders carried a pile of signs to the corner and yelled instructions.

“Into the streets,” she shouted.

MINNESOTA RESTAURANTS BY THE DOZENS PLANNING TO SHUT DOWN FRIDAY TO PROTEST ICE ENFORCEMENT

The protesters, with new signs in their hands, followed quietly behind.

The broader protest action was promoted as part of a “National Shutdown” scheduled for Friday, urging “no work, no school, no shopping” in opposition to ICE operations nationwide. Promotional materials accused federal immigration authorities of “terror” and demanded an end to ICE funding.

“STOP ICE TERROR NOW,” one sign read in bold black letters, with the “PARTY FOR SOCIALISM AND LIBERATION” in smaller letters below.

MINNESOTA SOCIALISTS TELL WORKERS TO FAKE SICK LEAVE FOR ANTI-ICE PROTESTS

Along with the Party for Socialism and Liberation, several of the organizations behind the protests were the People’s Forum, CodePink and BreakThrough News – all groups that are part of the communist ecosystem funded by Singham. CodePink co-founder Jodie Evans is married to Singham.

Other explicitly socialist and communist groups listed as endorsers or organizers included the Revolutionary Communists of America, Communist Party USA and its regional branches, Socialists Without Borders, Socialist Equality Party, Freedom Road Socialist Organization, Socialist Alternative, Democratic Socialists of America chapters, Marxist student organizations, like the George Washington University Socialist Action Initiative, and revolutionary groups aligned with anti-capitalist causes.

Propaganda experts say these types of protests are meant to create a media narrative of a failed state, one of the key tactics of insurgencies, and a convenient narrative for U.S. rivals, such as China.

TWIN CITIES MUSEUMS SLAM THEIR DOORS FRIDAY AS THEY TAKE SIDES IN ‘ICE-OUT’ STRIKE

In addition to far-left groups, the protest coalition also included organizations aligned with the Democratic Party. Notably, multiple chapters of Indivisible, a national activist network that frequently donates to Democratic political campaigns, endorsed the protest.

Other left-leaning civic and advocacy groups, including unions, with ties to Democratic politics also signed on, blurring the line between grassroots protest and partisan activism.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Throughout the event, demonstrators took selfies, mugged for cameras and filtered away not long after, as the police returned the regular day back to the streets.

“Where do you want to go for drinks?” one protester was heard asking another.

The far-left network that helped put Alex Pretti in harm’s way, then made him a martyr

The skirmish that led to Saturday’s fatal shooting of an agitator by Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis and the response that followed were driven by a complex network of far-left organizations with a wide range of causes, a Fox News Digital investigation found.

A coordinated web of encrypted chats, street alerts and tracking of ICE “Abductors” in a sophisticated database reviewed by Fox News Digital shows that agitators were already mobilized at the scene where 37-year-old Alex Pretti was killed minutes before any shots were fired.

ICE and Border Patrol agents were there to arrest an illegal immigrant criminal, and Pretti and others were there, outside a donut shop, to meet them as part of a strategic pattern of organized interference with law enforcement operations.

Over the following hours, a national network of socialist, communist and Marxist-Leninist cells in the United States leveraged the tragic fatality into a nationwide protest operation. While grief and outrage over Pretti’s death is genuine, the network’s real-time rapid response, using short sensational video clips and emojis as weapons of propaganda, offers a window into the disciplined logistics, messaging and coordination of far-left warriors fomenting insurgency-like confrontation with authorities.

VANCE CALLS MINNEAPOLIS UNREST ‘ENGINEERED CHAOS’ AFTER DEADLY SHOOTING

“This level of engineered chaos is unique to Minneapolis. It is the direct consequence of far left agitators, working with local authorities,” Vice President JD Vance observed in a Sunday post on X.

The encrypted Signal messages obtained by Fox News Digital in real time show that anti-ICE “rapid responders” were actively tracking, broadcasting and summoning “backup” around federal agents outside Glam Doll Donuts on Nicollet Avenue, where the shooting happened. Local “rapid responders” made at least 26 entries into a database called “MN ICE Plates” in the critical hours before and after the killing, documenting the license plate numbers and details of alleged ICE vehicles they claimed to see around Nicollet Avenue.

The entry at row 344 read, “At the nicollet [sic] murder,” chronicling a black Jeep Wagoneer at the location with agents allegedly “involved in shooting.” Row 338 had a “Glam Doll Donuts” entry, tracking a black Ford Taurus.

BONDI BLAMES MINNEAPOLIS LEADERS AFTER ARMED SUSPECT KILLED, UNREST ERUPTS DURING ICE OPERATION

At 9:50 a.m. ET, just before the killing, a user identified as “Willow” shared a 22-second video on an encrypted Signal chat for anti-ICE “rapid responders.”

“26and 3rd,” wrote “Willow,” quickly following up with, “Outside Glam Doll.”

The video showed two agents, one wearing a vest marked “POLICE,” studying the front door of Glam Doll before walking away, past a sign in the window that read, “ICE OUT OF MINNESOTA.”

As the camera rolled, the person filming yelled, “No!”

The camera followed the agents as they returned to a maroon Dodge Durango, passing another sign in the window that read, “ALL WELCOME HERE.”

In the video, someone shouted, “Get out of here!”

Just three minutes later, at 9:53 a.m. ET, a second Signal user, “Salacious B. Crumb,” escalated the alert, summoning additional responders and citing the same vehicle and agents.

“Backup needed at the Black Forest Inn parking lot on Nicollet Ave just south of 26th Street,” the message read.

DHS SAYS ICE AGENTS RAMMED BY VEHICLES AMID MINNEAPOLIS ENFORCEMENT SURGE: ‘AGGRESSIVELY ASSAULTED’

“Multiple vehicles with many agents appear to be staging there,” the alert continued. “One confirmed ICE vehicle seen was a maroon Dodge Durango [plate number], but it has driven away northbound on Nicollet.” Fox News Digital has redacted the Florida license plate number included in the original message.

ICE Assistant Director Marcos Charles said Sunday that the violence on the streets was “not a coincidence,” considering the “chaos and mayhem” that agitators are fomenting in Minneapolis. At the same press conference, Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) Commander-at-Large Greg Bovino confirmed that Pretti was “on the scene several minutes” before the fatal shooting.

Video of the scene shows that as Pretti stepped into the middle of Nicollet Avenue to direct traffic, fellow agitators could be heard blowing whistles to alert locals that ICE officers were around. Soon after, Pretti ended up in a street confrontation with CBP agents, across the street from Glam Doll Donuts outside a worn storefront marked “NEW AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT CENTER,” a nonprofit focused on immigration entry programs for Somalis.

Within minutes, at about 10:05 a.m. ET, at least one CBP agent shot Pretti, killing him.

MINNESOTA ICE OFFICIAL URGES PROTESTS TO REMAIN PEACEFUL AMID TENSIONS ‘LIKE NOTHING I’VE EVER SEEN BEFORE’

At 10:18 a.m. ET, the Signal network erupted.

Using a red phone emoji to signal an all-points alert, a message blasted out: “☎️ easy. URGENT: observers urgently requested at glam doll donuts @ 26th & nicollet [sic],” the alert continued. “an observer has been shot by ice, unknown condition, emts [emergency medical technicians] present, please be safe. EDIT: medics requested to join perimeter in case agents start gassing. be aware there are many agents and mpd [Minneapolis Police Department] officers present.”

Within minutes, far-left activists descended on Nicollet Avenue. Soon after, a video showed corrugated boxes of supplies apparently lined up on a Minneapolis sidewalk for protesters, including boxes marked “DESINER MASKS” [sic] and “FREE WINTER HATS,” next to piles of bottled water.

MINNESOTA AGITATORS STALK, PELT BORDER PATROL AGENTS WITH FOOD AND SPIT AT GAS STATIONS, DHS SAYS

Within hours, socialist leaders turbocharged their “rapid responders” in Minneapolis and mobilized street protesters from New York City to Los Angeles.

Media outlets, including CNN and MSNOW, described “angry protesters” but failed to identify the ideological networks behind the mobilization, even as protesters flashed their signs with their logos and names, touting socialism, communism and Marxism, on camera.

The Minneapolis activation marked the beginning of an almost instantaneous weekend surge by far-left organizations, including hardened socialist and communist groups operating in an ecosystem that national security experts describe as an insurgent-style operation designed to exploit tragedy to wage a domestic political war.

The strategy mirrors past mobilizations, including the aftermath of George Floyd’s killing in May 2020, and exploits well-intentioned public sympathy by rapidly framing Pretti — an intensive care unit nurse at a Veterans Administration hospital — as a symbol of resistance, much like Renee Good, the first victim of an ICE shooting in Minneapolis.

Just as they responded in real-time to mobilize “comrades” to march on the streets within 12 hours of the U.S. arrest of Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro in early January, socialist, communist and Marxist-Leninist groups now frame their activation as an action within the “belly of the beast” against the “hyperimperialism” of the United States.

VANCE CALLS MINNEAPOLIS UNREST ‘ENGINEERED CHAOS’ AFTER DEADLY SHOOTING

Based on a digital analysis of scores of rapid-response messages following the killing on Saturday, a hub of communist and socialist nonprofit organizations emerged as key organizers of the protests. Many of them are funded by American-born billionaire Neville Roy Singham, a self-declared Marxist-Leninist living in Shanghai. Some are also offshoots of the People’s Forum Inc., a nonprofit hub Singham has funded in New York City since 2017 as an “incubator” for socialist and communist groups. The People’s Forum declined requests for comment.

At 10:48 a.m. ET, BreakThrough News, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and propaganda arm of the People’s Forum, broke the news widely of the killing, sharing a video recorded from inside the Glam Doll Donut shot of the tussle outside, punctuated by gunshots and frantic narration, “Holy s–t. What the f—!…Did they f—ing kill that guy? F—ing kidding me, dude.”

BreakThrough News put a dramatic black-and-white caption over the video: “BREAKING: Another CBP Shooting in Minneapolis.” By Sunday afternoon, the video had 4.1 million views, alongside the outlet’s calls to support the People’s Republic of China, Venezuela’s Maduro and the communist revolution in Cuba.

Before the video cuts off, someone can be heard saying, “Yo, we need people on site!”

MINNESOTA SOCIALISTS TELL WORKERS TO FAKE SICK LEAVE FOR ANTI-ICE PROTESTS

At 11:40 a.m., BreakThrough News broadcast a 39-second video purporting to show state police charging across a street with batons, some falling as clouds of breath rose in the cold air.

Soon after, at 12:24 p.m., the Party for Socialism and Liberation – a political wing of the movement, working with shared leadership at the People’s Forum – published a quickly-made graphic, “CBP MURDERS ANOTHER IN MINNEAPOLIS,” and the message, “EXPAND THE GENERAL STRIKE!”

The call for a “general strike,” a classic communist tactic, refers to coordinated mass work stoppages aimed at paralyzing civil society to force political – and economic – outcomes.

At 12:33 p.m., the People’s Forum blasted out a bold red-and-white poster to followers, calling for an “EMERGENCY PROTEST” at 4 p.m. ET at Union Square in midtown Manhattan, with the message, “STOP ICE TERROR.”

DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISTS OF AMERICA IN NYC TRAINING THOUSANDS OF ACTIVISTS TO COUNTER ICE: REPORT

In lockstep, at 12:57 p.m., Democratic Socialists of America, the 501(c)(3) nonprofit that elected Zohran Mamdani as mayor of New York City, posted a stark black-and-white graphic on X, calling the killing an “execution” and demanding, “ABOLISH ICE NOW.”

At the protest, Linda Sarsour, a Palestinian political operative who has led virulently anti-Israel protests with socialist organizations after the Oct. 7, 2023, attack against Israel by Hamas terrorists, rallied the crowd at the 4 p.m. protest, yelling, “We will bring this country to a halt!” The People’s Forum shared the 22-second video clip with the caption: “🚨HAPPENING NOW IN NYC.”

Other groups mobilized simultaneously, including Freedom Road Socialist Organization, a self-described Marxist-Leninist group that has waved its red flag with its acronym, “FRSO,” in the middle of the protests since Good’s killing.

Also active: the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee, which has led many of the rapid-response efforts and Black Lives Matter chapters, which led the recent stampede through a local Christian church.

ANTI-ICE AGITATOR ALLEGEDLY BITES OFF FEDERAL OFFICER’S FINGER DURING MINNEAPOLIS ATTACK

By early evening, the narrative had coalesced into a chorus of voices within the far-left propaganda apparatus, adopting charged historical language to brand federal officials as Nazi-like figures. At 4:12 p.m. ET, Calla Walsh, a controversial communist activist filmed this past summer in Iran shouting, “Death to America! Death to Israel!” shared a 32-second video showing barricades built with Republic Services dumpsters.

She wrote, “People of Minneapolis build barricades, trapping ICE Gestapo at the scene of their latest murder in broad daylight. Not far from where they killed Renee Good a couple weeks ago, not far from where George Floyd was killed in 2020.”

By evening, CNN was reporting from the 4 p.m. protest in New York City but did not identify the ideological affiliations of the organizers, even as activists openly carried signs from the Party for Socialism and Liberation, with the group’s full name printed across the bottom.

FREY, KLOBUCHAR CALL FOR ICE TO LEAVE MINNEAPOLIS FOLLOWING DEADLY CBP SHOOTING IN CITY

Another CNN segment from Minneapolis interviewed Chris Gray, describing him only as Pretti’s “next-door neighbor.” Gray spoke about Pretti while delivering a well-scripted appeal for a general strike to dismantle the “Trump regime” and promote “non-violent resistance.” The segment did not disclose that Gray is a member of Socialist Alternative, the U.S. affiliate of the International Socialist Alternative, a “global fighting organization of workers, young people, and all those oppressed by capitalism and imperialism,” seeking to create a “socialist world.”

Soon after, however, Socialist Alternative shared the interview proudly on Instagram, noting, “Chris Gray, Socialist Alternative member and next-door neighbor of Alex Pretti, speaks out.”

By evening’s end, at 9:44 p.m. ET, Gloria La Riva, a co-founder of the Party for Socialism and Liberation who has described herself as “a communist,” posted a message on X, using the inflammatory language now normalized: “Alex Pretti was murdered in cold blood, everyone knows that. 10 shots in his back. All of Trump’s, Noem’s, Bovino’s lies cannot cover it up. The people’s struggle will only grow!”

TRUMP CITES ARMED SUSPECT, LACK OF POLICE SUPPORT FOLLOWING FATAL BORDER PATROL SHOOTING IN MINNEAPOLIS

The maroon Dodge Durango in the early Signal alerts from Saturday morning is Entry No. 2069 in the publicly shared database, “MN ICE PLATES.” It included a gallery of photos of alleged ICE vehicles.

At last count on Sunday, the database had 4,626 records of license plate numbers organized as “Highly Suspected ICE,” “Confirmed ICE,” “Suspected ICE,” “Cleared – Not ICE” and “Unknown.”

The total number of “Confirmed ICE” entries is 2,933 records. The total number of records labeled “Abductors” is 455.

A fine-print disclaimer states that the data is “for informational purposes only” and that its organizers “do not condone its use to forcibly assault, resist, oppose, impede or interfere with the official duties of any officer or employee of the United States, or of any agency in any branch of the United States Government, while engaged in or on account of the performance of official duties.”

One guide, “Best Practices Guide for Neighborhood or Area Patrol / Monitors: 612,” includes a key to emojis and the jobs they represent for rapid responders:

“🚗💨= Mobile Patrol / Commuter – In a vehicle driving around, looking for agents”

“🚗📍= Stationary Patrol/Monitor – In a vehicle positioned at key places in the area, looking for agents”

“🏃🏻‍♀️= Foot Patrol – On foot, looking for agents”

“☎️ = Dispatch – Live on the Monitor / Patrol group call”

“📟 = Hyper-local group messenger – Ready to pass on word to individual neighborhoods and blocks”

‘🦺 = School / event safety spotters – Assigned and connected to a specific school or event”

“🍽️ = License plate checker – Ready to check a plate against the list of known license plates’

“⛑️ = Medic – Ready to offer medical care”

“❤️‍🩹 = Aftercare provider – Available to connect with responders after an event”

The maroon Dodge Durango that was allegedly outside Glam Doll Donuts on Nicollet Avenue is listed with three prior sightings: Jan. 11 at 3 p.m. at the Whipple federal detention facility, Jan. 13 at 1:15 p.m. and a final sighting at Powderhorn Park parking lot on 35th Street and 14th Avenue.

It’s listed with the tags, “Seen in a convoy, Tinted/blacked-out windows, ICE agent(s) seen in vehicle,” and a final verdict: “Confirmed ICE.”

As socialist organizations continued to dispatch their foot soldiers to Nicollet Avenue on Sunday evening, the Signal groups were as active as ever on Sunday, an alert going out at 4:37 p.m. ET, with rapid responders now chasing a black Dodge Durango around town.

“2 confirmed ICE vehicles,” the alert read, “…at least 2 agents in each vehicle.”

Tax committee Republicans press for Treasury crackdown on nonprofits promoting fraud, ‘anti-American’ hate

FIRST ON FOX: House Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith and all 25 Republican members of the committee are urging Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to crack down on nonprofits accused of exploiting the tax code to operate tax-free while promoting “anti-American and/or pro-terrorist ideals” and committing fraud at taxpayers’ expense.

The request marks one of the most aggressive congressional pushes in memory to revoke tax-exempt status, expand audits and rein in what lawmakers describe as systemic failures in policing the nonprofit sector.

In the letter, obtained by Fox News Digital, Smith and the Republican lawmakers wrote to Bessent, who is acting IRS commissioner, and Frank Bisignano, who is the CEO at the IRS, and warned of a growing pattern of tax-exempt organizations pursuing activity that falls outside legitimate charitable purposes.

Smith and the lawmakers said they were writing to “express concern” over “significant fraud, waste, and abuse of taxpayer dollars” and urged the IRS to “transition from the laissez-faire approach implemented under the Biden administration and utilize a more hands-on approach” when overseeing nonprofits.

COMER VOWS MINNESOTA FRAUD PROBE WILL EXPAND TO OTHER STATES AMID MOUNTING SCRUTINY

They cited the massive fraud scandal in Minnesota, in which officials at the nonprofit Feeding Our Future were prosecuted and convicted for stealing an estimated $250 million from federal social welfare programs intended to feed low-income children. The case has resulted in dozens of indictments and criminal convictions. Amid the widening scandal, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz chose not to run for a third term.

Bessent announced last month that he was opening an investigation into allegations that some of the stolen funds may have been routed to regions of Somalia where they could have ended up benefiting Al-Shabaab, a U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization.

The case, Smith and the lawmakers wrote, “calls into question the current safeguards in place to protect taxpayer dollars.”

“It is unconscionable that the Biden Administration’s failure to hold the United States’s non-profit sector accountable has not only resulted in the theft of billions of American taxpayers’ hard-earned dollars, but the potential enrichment of foreign terrorist organizations overseas,” Smith told Fox News Digital Tuesday. “As the Ways and Means Committee continues to investigate every corner of the tax-exempt sector to root out this waste, fraud, abuse and illegal activity, it is now abundantly clear the system is in desperate need of an overhaul.”

“I applaud President Trump’s bold move to hold bad actors in the Minnesota Somali fraud scheme accountable and look forward to working with his Administration to ensure this rampant fraud is ended once and for all,” Smith added.

Along with Smith, the other 25 Republican lawmakers from the Ways and Means Committee who signed the letter are: Reps. Jodey Arrington, Aaron Bean, Vern Buchanan, Mike Carey, Ron Estes, Randy Feenstra, Michelle Fischbach, Brian Fitzpatrick, Kevin Hern, Darin LaHood, Mike Kelly, David Kustoff, Max Miller, Nicole Malliotakis, Carol Miller, Blake Moore, Nathaniel Moran, Greg Murphy, Adrian Smith, Lloyd Smucker, David Schweikert, W. Gregory Steube, Claudia Tenney, Beth Van Duyne and Rudy Yakym.

The House Ways and Means Committee has referred 11 nonprofits to the Treasury Department for investigation and revocation of their tax-exempt benefits, citing allegations of antisemitism, illegal activity, terrorism ties and foreign influence. The organizations have denied wrongdoing.

They include The People’s Forum, a New York-based nonprofit that has organized nationwide anti-ICE protests over the past two weeks with its related organization, the Party for Socialism and Liberation. The People’s Forum is under scrutiny for alleged ties to the Chinese Communist Party through its funding networks. Its primary donor has been Neville Roy Singham, an American-born tech entrepreneur living in Shanghai who has publicly embraced Marxism and promoted China’s political and economic model.

The People’s Forum has organized a national day of protests Tuesday with other organizations, including the Party for Socialism and Liberation, in their efforts to dismantle U.S. “imperialism.”

In the letter, Smith and the Republican lawmakers said the committee is “actively investigating American non-profits operating as extensions of the Chinese Communist Party.”

Earlier this month, Smith referred the Council on American-Islamic Relations-California for investigation and potential revocation of its tax-exempt status, alleging it may have “materially supported unlawful conduct, including endorsing and assisting disruptive and illegal campus encampments that led to hundreds of arrests across California.” He also raised questions about the group’s “reported involvement in overtly political activity and protests that devolved into chaos, violence and law breaking” in “conduct that may violate longstanding restrictions on tax-exempt organizations.”

Section 501(c) of the Internal Revenue Code was enacted as part of the Revenue Act of 1913 to encourage and formalize charitable, civic, labor and other public-interest activities by granting tax-exempt status to qualifying organizations, and today it contains 29 categories of tax-exempt entities, including 501(c)(3) charities, 501(c)(4) social-welfare groups, 501(c)(5) labor unions, 501(c)(6) trade associations and other specialized nonprofit organizations.

There are an estimated 1.8 million tax-exempt organizations in the United States, according to the IRS, with an estimated $1.4 trillion in annual revenues, making tougher oversight potentially far-reaching.

An organization applies for the special status, and, if they qualify, they are exempt from paying federal income taxes on money they receive that is related to their mission, such as donations, grants and program revenue. In addition, contributions made to these nonprofit organizations are also tax-deductible for donors, making the status especially valuable.

CONGRESS OPENS ‘INDUSTRIAL-SCALE FRAUD’ PROBE IN MINNESOTA, WARNS WALZ DEMANDS ARE ‘JUST THE BEGINNING’

Last week, Bessent announced the launch of IRS audits of financial institutions that “facilitated the laundering of Minnesota funds,” along with the creation of a task force focused on fraud and abuse involving 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status.

In their letter, Smith and Republican lawmakers urged Bessent to “use your authority at the IRS to hold tax-exempt organizations accountable” and to ensure that schemes like Feeding Our Future “cannot happen again.”

Together, they said, the cases illustrate a systemic failure to police the nonprofit sector.

Nonprofit organizations drew particular scrutiny after they led anti-Israel protests following the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Hamas terrorists. In late September 2024, Smith sent a letter to New York Attorney General Letitia James urging an investigation into The People’s Forum and the Westchester Peace Action Committee Foundation, known also as WESPAC, alleging they had “aided and abetted riots and unauthorized encampments across the country.”

“This conduct is designed to sow chaos and discord in our society,” Smith wrote, adding that it had “involved illegal activities.”

The committee has also urged the revocation of the nonprofit status of Americans for Justice in Palestine Educational Foundation and American Muslims for Palestine, warning about “alarming conduct” by the two groups in their anti-Israel protests.

On July 24, 2024, Zaid Mohammed Mahdawi, 26, a leader of the Richmond chapter of American Muslims for Palestine, climbed atop a monument at Columbus Circle in front of Union Station and spray-painted an ominous message: “Hamas is Comin’.” He included the inverted red triangle, which is a symbol that Hamas terrorists use to designate enemy targets. The FBI arrested Mahdawi for destruction of government property, and he was sentenced to 10 days in prison. The ANSWER Coalition, which works closely with The People’s Forum, obtained the permit for that day’s protest, where a U.S. flag was also burnt.

Smith has also asked for the revocation of the tax status of the People Media Project, which publishes “The Palestine Chronicle,” alleging the group may have been “circumventing its tax-exempt charitable purpose by supporting the terrorist organization, Hamas.” The concern followed reporting that a contributor to the outlet allegedly participated in holding Israeli hostages in Gaza.

READ THE LETTER – APP USERS, CLICK HERE:

He has also urged revocation of the nonprofit status of Jewish Voice for Peace, a co-organizer of many anti-Israel protests that have turned antisemitic, and the Alliance for Global Justice, a 501(c)(3) that served as the fiscal sponsor for Samidoun, a group designated by the Treasury Department as a “sham charity” that allegedly raises funds for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

In November, former Georgia state Rep. Stacey Abrams shut down her nonprofit, the New Georgia Project, after the Way and Means Committee raised questions about the 501(c)(3) organization contributing funds to Abrams’ 2018 gubernatorial race.

Red-Washing: How the media sanitizes a Marxist-Leninist revolutionary as a ‘preschool teacher’

When police in Michigan arrested Jessica Plichta live on air as she finished a TV news interview supporting Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro, she became an instant protest hero, seen as a victim of the heavy hand of law enforcement.

The 22-year-old from Grand Rapids was widely described in media reports as a “preschool teacher,” an “anti-war activist” and protest “organizer.” And while those descriptions are not wrong, they were hardly comprehensive. A Fox News Digital investigation reveals they are part of a pattern in the media in which the radical ties of leftist agitators are ignored, depriving readers of a deeper and more accurate picture of their sinister goals.

“Preschool Teacher, 22, Arrested on TV After Condemning Trump,” blared a headline in The Daily Beast, above an article that noted cynically, “Welcome to America.” The UK-based Guardian published an article framing her as a progressive “anti-war” activist. And Democracy Now, an anti-Trump platform, lamented, “Grand Rapids Police Arrest Protest Antiwar Organizer After She Condemns Trump.”

Few outlets reported that Plichta is a dedicated revolutionary in the radical Freedom Road Socialist Organization, a self-described Marxist-Leninist “organization of revolutionaries fighting for socialism in the United States.” The FBI in 2010 investigated the group for alleged ties to terrorist groups, including the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. It is part of a sprawling network of Marxist-Leninist groups funded by a China-backed billionaire and committed to sowing chaos on American streets, using issues from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to Elon Musk and President Donald Trump to fan the flames of discord.

But while the media worked to downplay or even hide Plichta’s radical ties, she has not been shy about her associations.

“I’m a proud cadre member of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization!” Plichta declared at a pro-Maduro protest Jan. 3, just hours after U.S. military forces had captured Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, for alleged narcoterrorism.

The Freedom Road Socialist Organization and Plichta didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Plichta’s case is one in a series in which the media glosses over – essentially red-washing – the radical ideologies of far-left people and organizations involved in protests and agitation against the Trump administration. Similarly, the media has largely described anti-ICE protester Renee Nicole Good, killed by an ICE officer in Minneapolis last week, as a “37-year-old mother of three” and “an amazing human being,” with little scrutiny of her participation in a militant anti-ICE group called “Minnesota ICE Watch,” which trains members to aggressively obstruct the work of ICE officers.

For the far-left, sanitizing protesters accomplishes an organizing strategy that its consultants recommend in information warfare: “lead with sympathetic characters.” The goal is often to disguise coordinated revolutionary activity as grassroots activism.

“It seems there is a widespread practice in the media of identifying conservatives by their political or group affiliations,” said Walter Kirn, a veteran journalist and editor-at-large at County Highway, a pioneering media publication. “They’re ‘MAGA.’ They’re ‘Trump supporters.’ They’re ‘far right.’

“Meanwhile, on the left,” Kirn said, “people are described sympathetically by their roles. They’re ‘moms.’ They’re ‘protesters.’ It’s an obvious double standard that should be corrected, particularly when membership in specific activist groups is involved.” Kirn also edits a Substack newsletter, “Unbound.”

In most cases, the activist groups are transparent about their work and proud of their objectives. The stated goal of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, which planted its red “FRSO” flag on the street where Good was killed, is to subvert the U.S. The Freedom Road Socialist Organization receives 501(c)(3) nonprofit benefits through the Lucy Parsons Institute for Social Research, a small Chicago nonprofit which last reported $264,004 in revenues.

Plichta’s arrest on Jan. 3 came soon after she led the pro-Maduro protest through the streets of Grand Rapids, blocking intersections. Despite multiple warnings from police, the group refused to move to the sidewalk.

She read her speech from her phone, a megaphone in her hand, and the young revolutionary didn’t mince her words.

“Free Maduro! Free Maduro!” she shouted. “We demand his safe return to Venezuela!”

“Join us in the struggle against imperialism!” she continued.

FAMILIAR PROTEST GROUPS MOBILIZE IMMEDIATELY AFTER ICE SHOOTING OF MINNESOTA PROTESTER

“Brick by brick…wall by wall…one struggle will free us all!” she yelled.

Soon after, at about 5:30 p.m., outside the Fountain Street Church, Plichta was giving an interview to the local TV station, WZZM 13 On Your Side, when two Grand Rapids police officers came up behind her and arrested her for obstructing a roadway and failure to obey a lawful command from a police officer. Her mouth fell open, and she slowly put her hands above her head, saying, “I am not resisting arrest. I am going peacefully.”

Local media immediately reported the story, describing Plichta simply as a “preschool teacher” and protester. On Monday, she complained in an interview that police put her in their cruiser “without buckling my seatbelt.” The interview was staged with her comrades behind her, including one carrying a signed branded “Freedom Road Socialist Organization.” There was no mention of Plichta’s radical ideological orientation in the story.

VENEZUELAN-AMERICAN JOURNALIST SOUNDS ALARM ON PRO-MADURO PROTESTS, CALLS THEM A ‘THREAT TO NATIONAL SECURITY’

National and international media soon followed suit, making Plichta a darling of the left. But to her self-described “comrades,” she and Freedom Road Socialist Organization were new stars in a sprawling movement, all under the International People’s Assembly, an umbrella group for about 200 communist, socialist and Marxist-Leninist groups worldwide. That group has more on its agenda than stopping the Trump administration from arresting illegal immigrants or even toppling South American dictators.

The International People’s Assembly is supported by controversial U.S. tech tycoon Neville Roy Singham, currently under investigation by the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee as an alleged propagandist for the Chinese Communist Party. Singham finances a number of groups in the U.S. in the socialist-communist network, fomenting anti-American sentiment on the streets, including The Answer Coalition, the Party for Socialism and Liberation, BreakThrough News and Code Pink, co-founded by his wife, Jodie Evans.

In recent days, these groups have been actively mobilizing socialist, communist and Marxist-Leninist members nationwide to protest U.S. “imperialist” policies against immigrants, Venezuela, Palestinians and a host of other issues. Even there, major news outlets are largely ignoring the role of far-left groups in organizing the protests and describing them instead with sweeping statements framed as national consensus. CNN called the protests a “nationwide outcry,” while the New York Times described the demonstrations as a “mounting outrage. Neither CNN nor the New York Times described the demonstrations’ openly socialist organizers, even though the New York Times published two photos of the trademark black-and-white signs of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, its name in bold letters across the signs, and it even published one photo with “FRSO” and “Freedom Road Socialist Organization” across the bottom.

In its investigation of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, according to internal documents made public, the FBI launched its query in 2010 to see whether U.S. activists associated with the organization provided material support to foreign groups designated by the State Department as terrorist organizations. That investigation resulted in raids of activists’ homes and offices that the group called “repression” but didn’t lead to criminal charges.

CHICAGO TEACHERS UNION PROMOTES VENEZUELA REGIME CHANGE PROTESTS ORGANIZED BY SOCIALIST GROUPS

The Freedom Road Socialist Organization and its network of socialist organizations hosting the anti-ICE protests believe the U.S. capitalist system must be abolished, and they support the communist governments of Cuba, China, Russia and North Korea.

It framed Plichta’s arrest as part of a pattern of “repression” against revolutionary activists.

Plichta’s case illustrates how revolutionary groups can embed themselves within mainstream protest movements, like an insurgency, leveraging popular causes to advance a far more radical political agenda.

Whether the media was oblivious or purposeful, the clues to Plichta’s ideological radicalization were all there. She emerged from her brief stint at Kent County Correctional Facility with a red shirt with “FRSO” visible behind her winter jacket.

Inside the Fountain Street Church, the group’s organizational secretary, Tom Burke, president of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Local 26, gave the local chapter a pep talk in its defense of Maduro, its members leaning on their protest signs as they listened intently. One sign read: “Regime change begins at Home.”

Burke advised them to join other chapters and send a delegation to Maduro’s courtroom for his trial to “create havoc, make the country ungovernable for Trump and his friends and just stir it up everywhere we can.”

“So, comrades, please join me, and we’re going to defeat Trump and his minions,” Burke said.

Next to him, Plichta nodded in agreement.

“Solidarity!” Burke closed.

Plichta joined the chant: “Solidarity!”

Socialist groups chant ‘Killer Kristi’ while escalating nationwide anti-ICE protests

NEW YORK – Socialist and communist protest groups ramped up their coordinated demonstrations in blue cities Thursday, escalating their anti-government messaging and vilifying Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem after the fatal shooting of a woman in Minneapolis.

The groups, including the Democratic Socialists of America, the Party for Socialism and Liberation and The People’s Forum, rallied their members in New York City, Chicago and elsewhere, while the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, a self-described communist group, activated its members in cities from New Orleans to Minneapolis.

The mobilization spawned demonstrations in multiple other cities, including Burlington, Vermont; Philadelphia; San Francisco; Seattle; Atlanta; and Washington, D.C.

Protesters chanted “Killer Kristi!” at a demonstration in downtown Manhattan, where Noem announced the arrest of 54 alleged Dominican Trinitarios gang members.

“Go to hell, Kristi Noem!” they yelled.

FOX NEWS POLITICS NEWSLETTER: JEFFRIES SLAMS NOEM OVER MINNEAPOLIS SHOOTING RESPONSE

Other groups, closely aligned with the Democratic Party, including Indivisible and 50501, supported anti-ICE protests around the nation. By late Thursday, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a nonprofit that has led anti-Israel protests for years, joined the cacophony of anti-ICE denouncements, declaring, “This is state violence.”

In New York, a crowd of about 300 people carried signs that said “ICE Cold Killers” and “ICE is Trump’s Gestapo.”

The demonstrations followed the fatal shooting of anti-ICE protester Renee Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer during an ICE enforcement operation in South Minneapolis Wednesday. Demonstrators accused the ICE agent of “cold-blooded murder,” while Trump administration officials said he acted in self-defense after the woman drove her Honda Pilot SUV at him, threatening his life.

WATCH: Protests continue in Minneapolis following deadly ICE shooting

WHO WAS RENEE NICOLE GOOD, WOMAN KILLED IN MINNEAPOLIS ICE SHOOTING?

Extremism experts are warning that the highly coordinated and choreographed demonstrations risk inciting violence against law enforcement and may be designed to manufacture the appearance of widespread chaos while advancing a coherent ideological agenda that exploits domestic flashpoints to destabilize the country.

“I just wish the average American realized that there is a network of far-left agitators in America who are Marxist-Leninists, socialists, Maoists and even North Korean apologists,” Stu Smith, a researcher at the Manhattan Institute with an expertise on domestic terrorism, told Fox News Digital.

“As these ideologues say the issue is never the issue. It’s all about the revolution. After this terrible situation in Minneapolis, they used social media and their networks to mobilize and get on the streets to hurt America.”

Protesters at an anti-ICE rally Jan. 8, 2026, march toward One World Trade Center in New York City. (Nikolas Lanum/Fox News Digital)

prev

next

A “F— ICE AND F— You Kristi Noem” sign at the New York City protest Jan. 8, 2026. (Nikolas Lanum/Fox News Digital)

Signs, including one made by the Party for Socialism and Liberation, were seen outside the Oculus in downtown Manhattan. (Nikolas Lanum/Fox News Digital)

AG PAM BONDI WARNS MINNESOTA PROTESTERS AFTER ICE SHOOTING: ‘DO NOT TEST OUR RESOLVE’

At Foley Square in New York, near local ICE offices, leaders from The People’s Forum, a nonprofit activist hub that has received funding from a tech billionaire, Neville Roy Singham, and has close ties to the Chinese Communist Party, stage-managed most of the day’s protest.

They arrived at 8:41 a.m., just minutes before the 9 a.m. start, hauling two shopping carts full of bullhorns and premade black-and-white signs printed with the message “JUSTICE FOR RENEE NICOLE GOOD” and a photo of Good with “PARTY FOR SOCIALISM AND LIBERATION” across the bottom.

“Want a sign?” one of the organizers from the Party for Socialism and Liberation asked demonstrators, many of them standing with their hands in their pockets.

One man asked for a switch of signs.

“Can I have the sign that says, ‘ICE OUT OF OUR COMMUNITY’?” he said.

Beyond New York, the Freedom Road Socialist Organization led raucous protests near the site of the killing soon after news spread of the shooting.

According to internal FBI documents made public, the Freedom Road Socialist Organization has been the subject of federal scrutiny. In 2015, the FBI opened an investigation into the group to assess potential criminal activity.

While no charges were filed, internal FBI documents described the organization as a “revolutionary socialist and Marxist-Leninist organization” and cited alleged ties to foreign Marxist-Leninist extremist groups, including the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Communist Party of the Philippines and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as FARC.

Protesters call for ICE to withdraw from American cities while chanting about President Donald Trump’s “Gestapo” and “Nazi” administration. (Nikolas Lanum/Fox News Digital)

prev

next

The Revolutionary Internationalist Youth group holds up a sign outside One World Trade Center in NYC. (Nikolas Lanum/Fox News Digital)

A Refuse Fascism pamphlet found at the “Stop ICE Terror!” rally in Foley Square. (Nikolas Lanum/Fox News Digital)

At the New York City demonstration, protesters spoke bluntly about their ideological orientation.

“I personally identify as a Marxist-Leninist-Maoist, following the teachings of [former communist China leader] Mao Zedong,” said demonstrator Tye Burrus, 18, who held a handmade sign depicting a hammer and sickle smashing a giant ice cube.

Burrus, a member of the Party for Socialism and Liberation who self-identifies as transgender, said losing faith in the Democrats and never having faith in the Republicans led to embracing communism.

”So, now I am a communist,” Burrus said.

One demonstrator sold copies of the Workers Vanguard, which calls itself a “Marxist Newspaper” of the Spartacist League, the U.S. chapter of the International Communist League.

ICE AGENT’S ACTIONS IN MINNEAPOLIS SHOOTING WERE ‘ABSOLUTELY REASONABLE’: EXPERT

“One dollar please,” she said, circulating in the crowd.

Another protester handed out copies of a newspaper, The Revolution, which urges readers to “join the fight for socialist revolution.” The paper, which identifies itself as a product of the Revolutionary Internationalist Youth and its local chapter at the City University of New York, notes that it advocates “the program of Marx, Lenin, and Trotsky.”

Yet another demonstrator, this one from the City University of New York student group, held a sign advocating “FOR A REVOLUTIONARY WORKERS PARTY,” a labor party inspired by Soviet communist leader Leon Trotsky. The bottom of the sign said, “REVOLUTIONARY INTERNATIONALIST YOUTH.”

Members of Refuse Fascism, a group that describes itself as “anti-fascist,” moved through the crowd, handing out slick, freshly printed pamphlets titled “The People’s Indictment of Donald Trump,” outlining what organizers described as a history of alleged constitutional violations by Trump. Online, it announced plans for a protest at the White House on Saturday at 1 p.m., posting online, “Trump’s ICE Gestapo commits cold-blooded murder.”

JONATHAN TURLEY: MINNESOTA DEMOCRATS’ CHOOSE ‘RAGE POLITICS’ OVER SANITY

Members of the Democratic Socialists of America, whose endorsed candidate Zohran Mamdani recently won New York City’s mayoral election, attended the protest wearing red hats bearing the group’s “DSA” initials. Protest organizers declined requests for comment.

On X, Mamdani echoed the talking points of the protesters, alleging that “an ICE agent murdered a woman in Minneapolis — only the latest horror in a year full of cruelty.”

Among the demonstrators, symbols from different movements appeared side by side. One woman carried a flag for Palestine, while a man banging a cowbell hung a flag of communist Cuba on his backpack.

As the demonstrators circled the sidewalk outside the World Trade Center with Noem inside, Manolo De Los Santos, a founder of The People’s Forum and a regular protest organizer, told the crowd that demonstrators weren’t allowed inside.

“We are not going anywhere,” he shouted into a bullhorn.

On the spot, The People’s Forum posted De Los Santos’ defiant message on its X account: “NOW. MASSIVE PICKET AT WORLD TRADE CENTER.”

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

But not for long.

Soon after, the staged protest ended, the activists shuffled away and organizers from The People’s Forum bundled up their megaphones and rolled away with their grocery carts filled with signs, neatly stacked and ready for use another day.

Familiar groups mobilize immediately after ICE shooting of Minnesota protester

Within hours of a Minnesota protester being fatally shot after allegedly attempting to run over ICE agents, a familiar network of far-left protesters for causes ranging from communism to climate change mobilized across the country.

The deceased, identified as 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good by the Minneapolis City Council on Wednesday afternoon, was killed at the wheel of her SUV just after 11 a.m. ET.

Federal authorities said she had tried to run over ICE agents who were part of a 2,000-strong team sent to the Twin Cities to round up and deport illegal immigrant criminals.

“This appears to be an attempt to kill or to cause bodily harm to agents, an act of domestic terrorism,” DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said during a news conference late Wednesday in Minneapolis. “The ICE officer, fearing for his life and the other officers around him and the safety of the public, fired defensive shots. He used his training to save his own life and that of his colleagues.”

MINNEAPOLIS POLICE CHIEF BLASTS ICE AFTER AGENT SEEN DRAGGING WOMAN THROUGH STREET, KNEELING ON HER BACK

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said Good was shot in the head, and later pronounced dead at Hennepin County Medical Center.

“I have just viewed the clip of the event which took place in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is a horrible thing to watch,” President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social. “The woman screaming was, obviously, a professional agitator, and the woman driving the car was very disorderly, obstructing and resisting, who then violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE Officer, who seems to have shot her in self-defense.”

Almost immediately, various groups with causes as diverse as socialism, communism, climate change, Palestinian rights and the Democratic Party launched what seemed to be coordinated protests online and in American streets, using similar language.

The effort by left-wing groups with no obvious shared cause echoed protests over the weekend, when many of the same groups sprang into action in the hours following the U.S. capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro.

“It’s the same network of people that have thousands of Americans blocking the streets, waving communist and terrorist flags and attacking law enforcement and innocents,” said Brandy Shufutinsky, director of the Education and National Security Program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. “They are stoking the grievance industry that they built.”

While authorities said an investigation was underway, the protest groups were quick to brand the killing a murder. A sentiment analysis of relevant social media posts by left-wing groups showed the graphic and emotional language used in the posts was designed to provoke moral outrage and mobilize people to take to the streets. For example, posts told people to “get in the streets now,” “hit the streets” and “get to the White House ASAP.”

ICE OFFICERS INJURED AFTER ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT STRIKES AGENTS, RAMS VEHICLES DURING ARREST ATTEMPT

“The state is the enemy, the state is the murderer! Resistance is justified,” wrote Fight for a Future, an organization who openly advocates communism.

At 1:24 p.m., the National Alliance against Racist and Political Repression, a fixture in left-wing protests, announced an “emergency rally” in New York City’s Foley Square for Thursday. The rally was also promoted by a group dubbing itself “NYC ICE Watch.”

Indivisible, the Democratic Party-aligned nonprofit and PAC that was at the forefront of protests against Tesla and the Trump administration, shared a picture on Instagram of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, whose agency oversees ICE, with two Xs over eyes, a symbol often used to portray someone as dead.

HOMAN VOWS TO ENFORCE IMMIGRATION LAWS IN TWIN CITIES ‘WITHOUT APOLOGY’ AMID MAYOR OPPOSITION

“Kristi Noem get the f*ck out of NYC right now,” the post read in both English and Spanish. The post was shared by 50501, a newly established organization that played a lead role in the #NoKings protest against President Trump.

“EMERGENCY ALERT. THIS IS AN ALL HANDS ON DECK MOMENT!” wrote 50551 on Instagram at 11:50 a.m.

Indivisible’s post echoed the language of Frey, who had moments earlier called on ICE to “get the f— out of Minneapolis.”

ICE SAYS POLITICO REPORTER JOSH GERSTEIN IS ‘INCITING VIOLENCE AGAINST FEDERAL AGENTS’ AFTER X POST

At 2:44 p.m., Refuse Fascism, a socialist organization active in protests against Israel and the Trump administration, posted a message on Instagram decrying the incident.

“From Venezuela to the streets of Minneapolis, the trump [sic] regime murders and demonizes whole peoples and countries without any pretense of the rule of law,” the group wrote.

At 3:33 p.m., the Party for Socialism and Liberation’s Columbus, Ohio, called for an “emergency protest from Columbus to Minneapolis.”

“ICE out! ICE has murdered a legal observer in Minneapolis,” the Instagram post read. “We fight back!”

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

At 3:06 p.m., the Palestinian Youth Movement, which organized campus protests following the Oct. 7 massacre of Israelis by Hamas, weighed in.

“The time is rise and resist is now (sic),” the group posted on Instagram.

Second front: How a socialist cell in the US mobilized pro-Maduro foot soldiers within 12 hours

As the U.S. military carried out a daring operation to capture Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro, a second front opened up within minutes in the United States: an information warfare, psychological and propaganda operation run by a hardened cell of self-described Marxist, socialist and communist leaders.

For years, this cell has fomented anti-American hate in the U.S. under the cover of “anti-war” protests, rallying activists after the 9/11 attacks to condemn the U.S. response, appropriating “anti-racism” protests after the 2020 killing of George Floyd, marching with Antifa agitators, organizing antisemitic campus encampments after the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Hamas and activating “working-class Americans” to support Maduro and his regime in a war against “U.S. imperialism.”

A Fox News Digital analysis of their minute-by-minute moves overnight reveals how this network activated a coordinated ideological and information warfare campaign, moving through digital social media channels with quickly produced posters to mobilize foot soldiers to the streets for an “EMERGENCY DAY OF ACTION” in New York City; Washington, D.C.; and an estimated 100 other cities, moving with the speed and discipline of an organized military operation.

At 1:35 a.m., as U.S. special forces teams had just landed in Venezuela, BreakThrough News, a socialist propaganda arm of the network, published some of the first video from the U.S. military strikes, blasting the Trump administration for waging an “illegal bombing campaign of Caracas,” the capital of Venezuela. It was a talking point that was going to stick.

TRUMP REVEALS VENEZUELA’S MADURO WAS CAPTURED IN ‘FORTRESS’-LIKE HOUSE: ‘HE GOT BUM RUSHED SO FAST’

Ten minutes later, at 1:45 a.m., one of the key leaders of this network, Manolo De Los Santos, executive director at The People’s Forum, a proudly socialist 501(c)(3) nonprofit based in New York City, echoed the narrative on social media of an “illegal bombing.”

Less than an hour later, at 2:29 a.m., the ANSWER Coalition, a nonprofit co-founded by a proud Marxist, Brian Becker, published a red siren alert on the social media platform X with a slick new poster, calling supporters to the streets in Times Square for a protest Saturday to support Maduro.

“NO WAR ON VENEZUELA! STOP THE BOMBINGS,” the poster screamed, on brand.

EXPLOSIONS HEARD IN VENEZUELAN CAPITAL OF CARACAS: REPORTS

Minutes later, at 2:34 a.m., The People’s Forum shared the call-to-action, screaming: “EMERGENCY PROTEST”

Soon after, at 2:43 a.m., the Party for Socialism and Liberation shared the poster on X, saying, “Stop the bombings…!”

Congressional lawmakers are already investigating this socialist network for its ties to Neville Roy Singham, a United States-born technology executive who relocated to Shanghai after selling his software firm and starting work that critics say is aligned closely with interests of the Chinese Communist Party. Singham didn’t respond to a request for comment.

MADURO MET CHINESE ENVOY HOURS BEFORE US CAPTURE FROM CARACAS AS BEIJING SLAMS OPERATION

By 3:21 a.m., Vijay Prashad, director of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, a research institute chaired by Singham that examines issues through the lens of “national liberation Marxism,” posted a message, denouncing the military action, declaring, “Down with US imperialism.”

Within a few hours, at 6:09 a.m., CodePink, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded by Singham’s wife, Jodie Evans, condemned the “terrorist United States…”

MADURO JAILED AT NEW YORK DETENTION CENTER THAT HELD DIDDY, GHISLAINE MAXWELL, AND SAM BANKMAN-FRIED

From a military intelligence perspective, experts say the overnight sequence bears the hallmarks of a pre-positioned influence network executing a rapid-response operation. The synchronization of messaging, the staggered release of content across aligned platforms and the immediate transition from online agitation to physical mobilization point to an ecosystem designed not for spontaneous protest, but for ideological warfare.

In this framework, experts say, the nonprofit leaders are foot soldiers in Maduro’s war on the United States, acting as civilian operatives advancing the strategic interests of a foreign ideological project. Their role is not to fight with weapons, but to contest legitimacy, shape public perception, apply internal pressure on U.S. decision-making during moments of external conflict and further the cause of communism, experts say.

At the center of this domestic front is an international coordination structure known as the International Peoples’ Assembly, which functions as an umbrella organization and political command-and-control hub linking communist parties, socialist movements, activist organizations and state-aligned media outlets worldwide.

One of its media arms, the People’s Dispatch, has explicitly framed its mission as mobilizing global resistance against “American imperialism,” including repeated calls to action on behalf of Venezuela. It lists Singham’s Tricontinental as one of its “partners.” The North America members of its “coordinating committee” include CodePink; the Popular Education Project, an initiative of The People’s Forum; and the Party for Socialism and Liberation. Its Venezuelan member is a group called Francisco de Miranda Front, which works closely with its U.S. allies.

At 7:49 a.m., the International People’s Assembly shared the poster for the “EMERGENCY DAY OF ACTION.”

It quickly published a statement condemning the U.S. military action as reflective of the country’s “increasingly militaristic and hyper-imperialist orientation” and calling on members to “resist this pursuit of hegemony by any means necessary.”

TRUMP VOWS US WILL ‘RUN’ VENEZUELA UNTIL ‘SAFE’ TRANSITION OF POWER

The assembly operates in close alignment with Tricontinental, the SIngham organization that functions as an ideological production center, generating narratives, research and messaging disseminated through aligned media platforms and activated through street-level organizations. Singham’s wife, Evans, sits on the International People’s Assembly, tightening the operational loop between messaging, mobilization and leadership.

Experts say the ideological doctrine guiding this network is shaped in part by Prashad, who also serves as editor of People’s Dispatch.

On the operational side, De Los Santos, executive director at The People’s Forum, has emerged as a visible field organizer. He is listed as a researcher at Tricontinental and has repeatedly appeared at regime-aligned events in Venezuela, functioning as a liaison between the ideological center and street-level mobilization abroad and at home.

MADURO GAVE STATE TV ADDRESS AS US STRIKES IN VENEZUELA BEGAN: REPORT

In 2003, Cuban leader Fidel Castro and Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez backed a new group in Venezuela, the Francisco de Miranda Front, laying the groundwork for an international solidarity apparatus that joined the International People’s Assembly, working with U.S. groups. That infrastructure matured over time into a durable support system for Maduro when he was elected president in 2013.

By March 2019, that relationship was well-entrenched when De Los Santos organized a pro-Maduro protest outside Venezuela’s consulate in New York, physically denying opposition figures access to the building.

TRUMP CASTS MADURO’S OUSTER AS ‘SMART’ MOVE AS RUSSIA, CHINA ENTER THE FRAY

That month, the Party for Socialism and Liberation’s Claudia De la Cruz jetted to Venezuela for a four-day conference of the International Peoples’ Assembly in Caracas, urging socialists to “collectivize” their efforts to fight the “capitalist crisis” in the world, according to a video shared from the meeting with the hashtag #HandsOffVenezuela..

“Venezuela is the epicenter,” she declared. “Venezuela is the personification of the anti-imperialist struggle.”

The next month, The People’s Forum hosted Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza during a talk in which he demanded the U.S. end sanctions on the country, according to an article in “Fight Back! News,” a publication by members of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization. “The evening concluded with Arreaza thanking the crowd and urging people to keep fighting and protesting,” the article noted. “Manolo de los Santos, the executive director of The People’s Forum, took up Arreaza on his request and called the crowd to action.”

WHAT IS DELTA FORCE AND WHAT DO THEY DO? INSIDE THE ELITE US ARMY UNIT THAT CAPTURED MADURO

In May 2019, when a coup attempt failed, De Los Santos appeared on teleSUR, the state-funded TV network in Caracas, saying he’d organized a press conference with religious leaders in New York City to “engage in the battle of ideas” against “imperialist aggression.”

Two years later, in November 2021, Prashad and De Los Santos shared a photo with Maduro, all of them flashing a thumbs-up, with Prashad writing, “Elections in Venezuela today!” He noted that he stood with De Los Santos and Maduro, supporting “sovereignty against imperialism.”

The next month, De Los Santos participated in a Caracas conference livestreamed on Maduro’s X account, speaking at the 59-minute mark and holding up a manifesto, “Plan para salvar la humanidad,” or “Plan to save humanity.”

He returned to Caracas in April 2022 for the International Anti-Fascist Summit, posting a photo with Eugene Puryear, a senior figure in the Party for Socialism and Liberation, further reinforcing the operational linkage between U.S.-based activists and foreign political structures.

HOUSE DEMOCRAT CALLS TRUMP’S MADURO CAPTURE ‘WELCOME NEWS’ AS LEFT ACCUSES HIM OF ‘ILLEGAL ACTIONS’

The pattern intensified the next year when De Los Santos and De la Cruz attended a conference sponsored by the Maduro government to explicitly preserve the ideological legacy of “Comandante Chávez,” their term of reverence for Chávez.

In late April 2024, Maduro even recognized De Los Santos as he thanked attendees of a conference of the “Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America,” established by Cuba and Venezuela in 2004 to unite communist economic interests.

This past fall, a wide network that included the Communist Party USA, the All-African People’s Revolutionary Party and the Struggle for Socialism Party supported an “urgent call for a week of coordinated protests” to support Maduro. Last month, the network took action again, organizing “NO WAR ON VENEZUELA” protests.

RUBIO TO CUBA: ‘I’D BE CONCERNED’ AFTER US MILITARY ARRESTS VENEZUELAN LEADER MADURO

The newest overnight campaign to support Maduro will likely send foot soldiers into the streets to support Maduro and his wife during any trials they face, not just as an expression of protest but as a continued campaign of information warfare on the domestic front.

Experts say the network that spent decades legitimizing and defending communist regimes abroad and now functions as a rapid-response influence force inside the United States is a new threat matrix that amounts to something the FBI and intelligence agencies investigate as malign foreign influence.

Its members operate as ideological foot soldiers, advancing a foreign-aligned narrative during moments of conflict, seeking to fracture public consensus, delegitimize U.S. action and apply pressure from within.

SEE PICS: VENEZUELANS WORLDWIDE CELEBRATE AS EXILES REACT TO MADURO’S CAPTURE

By daylight Saturday morning, at 8:49 a.m., CodePink invoked a slogan used last year as a theme in anti-Trump protests, declaring, “HANDS OFF VENEZUELA,” and issuing a statement dismissing criminal proceedings against Maduro as a “sham” prosecution.

By 8:57 a.m., the Democratic Socialists of America, which just saw its star politician, Zohran Mamdani, inaugurated as mayor of New York City, shared a message from U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a member of the organization, condemning the U.S. strike as “illegal.”

At 10:29 a.m., Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, another member of the Democratic Socialists of America, chimed in, saying, “It’s about oil and regime change.”

On cue, at 1:06 p.m, Mamdani repeated the refrain established overnight by the socialist network that brought him to the mayor’s office in New York City, blasting the U.S. for the “military capture” of Maduro, calling it an “act of war” and “blatant pursuit of regime change.”

The talking points of politicians, activist groups and foot soldiers in the socialist, communist and Marxist network in the U.S. echoed the statements that the two strongest communist powers in the world expressed about their ally, Maduro. China issued a statement saying it opposed the “blatant use of force” by the U.S. in Venezuela. Russia called the news an “act of aggression” against Venezuela.

By afternoon, within 12 hours of first hearing about the military operation in Caracas, the pro-Maduro network started churning out fast clips of its information war on the Trump administration.

MADURO-BACKED TDA GANG’S EXPANSION INTO US CITIES EMERGES AS KEY FOCUS OF SWEEPING DOJ INDICTMENT

At 1:34 p.m., the social media team at the ANSWER Coalition posted a closely cropped video of protesters, holding the ANSWER Coalition’s distinctive yellow-and-black signs and chanting in front of the White House, “Stop the war machine!” The Party for Socialism and Liberation immediately shared the video.

A little over an hour later, at 2:42 p.m., The People’s Forum shared a video of Becker, the co-founder of the ANSWER Coalition, from Times Square in New York City, a camera filming him from behind, as he declared, “This is a capitalist war! It’s a rich man’s war! The kidnapping of Maduro is an imperialist war for a capitalist class!”

MS Now, the new name for MSNBC, reported from the Times Square protest and its reporter only shared a throwaway line about the ANSWER Coalition having a “speakers’ program going on behind us,” without cluing viewers into the group’s proud Marxist politics.

Online, at 3 p.m., wearing a black-and-white checkered collared shirt, the Party for Socialism and Liberation’s Puryear hosted a YouTube livestream, joined by Tricontinental’s Prashad and others. BreakThrough News promoted the livestream with a new piece of graphic propaganda, showing Trump with a mouth gaping open and Maduro with his chin high, appearing stoic and regal.

IRAN AND MADURO TIES SUFFER MAJOR BLOW FOLLOWING US OPERATION AND CAPTURE OF VENEZUELAN DICTATOR

At 3:02 p.m., The People’s Forum shared a video clip on its X account of De Los Santos at the Times Square protest, a microphone in his hand as he scanned the crowd and railed against the U.S., calling the Trump administration a “criminal enterprise” for “kidnapping” Maduro.

“Shame!” the crowd responded, in a typical refrain for the group’s protests.

Back on the BreakThrough News livestream, Puryear asked Becker about the “quick turnaround” on organizing the protests.

NYC MAYOR STRONGLY CONDEMNS TRUMP’S CAPTURE OF VENEZUELAN LEADER MADURO AS ‘ACT OF WAR’

Becker spoke about the night before like a field marshal.

“A few of us stood up all night last night when we heard the news, conferring with each other, conferring with other organizers and, by 3:30, 4 o’clock this morning, we put out the call for demonstrations to happen today, Saturday, Jan. 3,” he said.

Between 10 a.m. and 11:30 a.m., he said, leaders of anti-Trump groups, including 50501, which organized “HandsOff” and “TakedownTesla” protests, reached out to the pro-Maduro organizers to join their protests, and the protest numbers swelled with the “entrance” of the groups more closely aligned with the Democratic Party.

Now, he bragged, the results were protests in “100-plus cities.”

As the jet with Maduro and his wife touched down in the U.S. at Stewart Airport in New Windsor, New York, agents with “DEA” across their jackets boarding the plane, the caption on the livestream said proudly: “ANTI-WAR PROTESTS SWEEP U.S.”

“We should be raging!” Becker declared, stoking the “working class” to join the “class war, global war, anti-imperialist war.”

The protests today, he warned, “are a harbinger of what’s coming.”

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Inside the Mamdani Machine: Soros cash, socialists and radical imams engineered Zohran Mamdani’s path to power

In late September 2017, Palestinian American activist Linda Sarsour, once the darling of the Women’s March and the self-declared face of the “resistance” against Donald Trump, was facing mounting criticism for antisemitic remarks and her embrace of extremist views.

But, beaming in a photograph taken on a city sidewalk, Sarsour appeared unfazed, her iconic fist pumped in the air as she knelt shoulder-to-shoulder with campaign volunteers for City Council candidate Khader El-Yateem. The photo was posted by El-Yateem on the Facebook page he used to promote his campaign, which he lost, but among the smiling faces was a young organizer named Zohran Mamdani.

That photo would mark the start of a carefully constructed political project that, in less than a decade, would propel a now-34-year-old socialist newcomer to the precipice of running America’s largest city – even while campaigning with radical imams, some of whom have supported terrorists and terrorist financiers.

A Fox Digital investigation reveals that Mamdani’s rise was no accident. It was engineered.

SEN. SLOTKIN SAYS DEM SOCIALIST NYC CANDIDATE MAMDANI REPRESENTS ‘NEW GENERATION’ OF LEADERS YOUNG VOTERS WANT

A database of 110 groups backing Mamdani exposes a tight inner circle of organizations that identify as Muslim or socialist, working hand-in-glove with 76 Democratic Party affiliates, allied groups and unions. Particularly important in this political machine are two networks – Sarsour’s MPower organizations and another constellation of groups called Emgage, with which she works closely.

The organizations have been generously funded. In total, billionaire George Soros’s Open Society philanthropies have given MPower and Emgage nearly $2.5 million in recent years, according to tax filings.

“We fund a range of civil society organizations that work to deepen civic engagement through peaceful democratic participation, counter discrimination including against Muslim Americans and advance human rights,” a spokesperson for Open Society Foundations told Fox News Digital. “The grants that you cite all occurred years before the mayoral race, and we are a nonpartisan organization that does not fund political candidates and their campaigns.”

Mamdani, Sarsour and the groups supporting Mamdani’s campaign didn’t return requests for comment.

MPower and Emgage have been part of a tight inner circle of 30 ethnic and religious groups, that also includes CAIR Action, the 501(c)(4) political wing of the 501(c)(3) Council on American-Islamic Relations nonprofit, the Islamic Circle of North America,“ “Muslim Action Coalition,” Yemeni American Merchants Associations Inc., the “Bangladeshi American Advocacy Group” and “Desis Rising Up and Moving.” They have pumped up Mamdani’s campaign with social media campaigns, canvassing, voters and buzz.

Altogether, they have annual revenues of about $24 million, and they have worked to promote Mamdani’s campaign with endorsements, fund-raising, social media campaigns and canvassing.

The result: a carefully constructed political career that mainstreams the socialist goals long embraced by Sarsour and fellow members of the Democratic Socialists of America.

It’s a machine that is expressing itself in races from New York to Virginia, Minnesota, Texas and California with MPower and Emgage aligning with the Democratic Socialists of America and the Democratic Party to propel candidates who may share their views. In a campaign called “Defend and Advance,” Emgage SuperPac is pushing Mamdani and Democratic Virginia Lt. Governor candidate Ghazala Hashmi as its “star candidates.”

Emgage’s “Defend and Advance” roster of supported candidates and office holders includes Dearborn, Mich., Mayor Abdullah Hammoud.

“I want you to know as mayor, you are not welcome here,” Hammoud recently told a Christian pastor who objected to a proposal to name a street in honor of a local man who had allegedly praised terrorist groups Hamas and Hezbollah. “And the day you move out of the city will be the day that I launch a parade celebrating the fact that you moved out of the city because you are not somebody who believes in coexistence.”

Emgage’s donations include $175,000 from a group little-noticed by political observers but important in Islamist circles: Sterling Charitable Gift Fund, based in Herndon, Va. It is part of a network of groups that FBI agents raided in 2002 as part of wider investigations into the funding of Palestinian terrorist groups, including Hamas. Federal prosecutors ultimately didn’t file criminal charges against any officials at Sterling Charitable Gift Fund.

MEET MAMDANI’S RADICAL ADVISORY CIRCLE THAT INCLUDES COMMUNIST ACTIVIST, ANTI-ISRAEL ADVOCATES

Over almost a decade, Sarsour and her allies have orchestrated a network of well-financed and tightly connected socialist activists, radical imams, political organizers and nonprofit organizations funded with millions of dollars by major philanthropies including Foundation to Promote Open Society, the Ford Foundation, Macarthur Foundation and the Tides Foundation.

The confluence of big philanthropy, partisan operatives and clerical authority has helped drive Mamdani’s ascent. Its architecture combines nonprofit activism with faith-based politics and the precision of a professional campaign operation.

“To the casual observer, Zohran Mamdani’s rise might appear meteoric – a story of grassroots energy and demographic change in America’s largest city,” said Dalia Al-Aqidi, an Iraqi American Muslim who is running against Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar in Minnesota, with Omar supported by the same kind of political machine being unleashed to propel Mamdani to office.

“The data, the money trail and the affiliations, from the Democratic Socialists of America to the Islamists, tells a different story.”

“Mamdani’s ascent is the product of deliberate design: a sophisticated collaboration between socialist activism and Islamist organizing, lubricated by millions in foundation grants and political donations and normalized through a revolving door of political operatives and nonprofits who embrace Islamists, the destruction of the state of Israel and hostilities to the police, the U.S. and the West,” Al-Aqidi said.

The timeline of Mamdani’s rise tracks precisely with the growth of this network. In 2012, as a student at Bowdoin College, in Maine, he cofounded a chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, the campus organization known for its rabid anti-Israel activism. By 2017, he was canvassing for El-Yateem’s campaign with Sarsour’s mentorship.

In 2018, Mamdani formally entered Sarsour’s orbit through the Muslim Democratic Club of New York, an organization she co-founded in 2013 to mobilize Muslim voters and elect progressive Democrats to local office. The Muslim Democratic Club of New York served as both incubator and amplifier for Sarsour’s political brand, one that fused progressive politics with an explicitly Islamist social identity. By December 2018, Mamdani joined the board, in an announcement in which the group said, “Help build Muslim power across the city with us!”

UNEARTHED VIDEO EXPOSES MAMDANI’S ‘UNABASHED’ COMMITMENT TO SUPPORTING ANTI-ISRAEL SANCTIONS AS LAWMAKER

With his new role, Mamdani gained access to an emerging infrastructure of influence: voter lists, donor networks and organizing muscle that would later power his campaign to a seat on the New York General Assembly. The Muslim Democratic Club endorsed Mamdani.

Around that time, Sarsour was building her own empire, founding MPower Change as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit housed at Neo Philanthropy Inc. Public filings show MPower Change took in at least $2.4 million between 2017 and 2024, the latest year available, with Soros’s Foundation to Promote Open Society giving her organization $1.125 million and the Macarthur Foundation funneling her $450,000. It would become a flagship digital organizing hub for not just Sarsour but Mamdani.

Meanwhile, Emgage Action was expanding its footprint nationally. Also backed by the Open Society network, Emgage Action received a share of $42.5 million that Soros’ foundations pledged to Muslim, Arab and South Asian civic groups beginning in 2021. It has received $1.8 million from the Open Society Policy Center and another $1.35 million from the Foundation to Promote Open Society.

Together, MPower Change and Emgage created an unprecedented financial and political ecosystem, leveraging big philanthropy’s dollars and digital strategy to elevate candidates like Mamdani under the banner of Muslim empowerment.

In 2020, Mamdani won his first election to the New York State Assembly, with Sarsour’s explicit endorsement and fundraising help.

By 2020, Mamdani was being featured in Sarsour’s #MyMuslimVote summit, promoted by MPower Change as the face of a new generation of unapologetic Muslim progressives. By this year, his campaign for mayor became the culmination of that project — backed by PAC money, boosted by clerical endorsements and legitimized by an activist ecosystem that had spent a decade grooming him for this very moment.

REP. ELISE STEFANIK LABELS NYC MAYORAL CANDIDATE ZOHRAN MAMDANI A ‘JIHADIST’

To push Mamdani toward the helm of the nation’s biggest city, the network extended far beyond activist circles. Central to Mamdani’s political ascent was a series of carefully cultivated relationships with clerics with some troubling views.

In January, Mamdani courted Imam Muhammad Al-Barr of the Islamic Society of Bay Ridge, visiting his mosque just months after Al-Barr had publicly prayed to “annihilate” Israel.

In May, Imam Siraj Wahhaj, the longtime imam of Brooklyn’s Masjid Al-Taqwa, personally donated $1,000 to the Unity and Justice Fund. More recently, Mamdani met with Wahhaj and called him “one of the nation’s foremost Muslim leaders and a pillar of the Bed-Stuy community.”

Wahhaj, who served as a character witness in the trial of Omar Abdel-Rahman, the “Blind Sheikh” later convicted of masterminding the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, has a long history of calling for the exploitation of America’s democracy to further a conquest for Islam.

“You don’t get in politics because it’s the American thing to do,” he said in a videotaped 1991 sermon. “You get involved in politics because politics can be a weapon to use in the cause of Islam.”

Wahhaj has also denounced the U.S. government as “controlled by Shaitan,” the Arabic word for the devil, urged Muslims not to befriend “non-believers,” condemned homosexuality as “a disease of this society,” and supported Islamic laws that punish sex outside of marriage with 100 lashes and stoning. In 2011, Wahhaj urged Muslims to donate to the legal defense of the since-convicted Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani neuroscientist dubbed “Lady Al Qaeda” for attempting to kill U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

Over the years, Wahhaj’s sermons have praised “jihad” without “a gun,” called for an Islamic America governed by sharia law and urged the creation of an “army of 10,000 men in New York City.”

Other imams now backing Mamdani’s mayoral run have also been controversial. Imam Talib Abdur-Rashid, a cleric leading the Mosque of Islamic Brotherhood in Harlem, co-founded the Muslim Alliance in North America, alongside Wahhaj. In 2005, Abdur-Rashid publicly defended Rafiq Sabir, an American doctor who joined Al Qaeda and was subsequently sentenced to 25 years in prison.

DNC EMBRACES SOCIALIST MAMDANI AS RESURFACED ANTI-ISRAEL REMARKS RAISE ALARM: ‘BIG TENT PARTY’

In 2008, Abdur-Rashid defended Sami Al-Arian, a Palestinian American professor whom the U.S. later deported to Turkey for “conspiring to provide services” to Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Still in the U.S., Al-Arian’s wife joined the anti-Israel encampments at Columbia University.

In September, Mamdani appeared as the special guest speaker at Abdur-Rashid’s annual gala. A month earlier, Muslim Association of North America’s social media featured Abdur-Rashid visiting Wahhaj’s mosque, underscoring the continued collaboration between the two imams.

In Manhattan, Imam Khalid Latif, the executive director of the Islamic Center at New York University, has been another prominent Mamdani backer. Latif publicly endorsed Mamdani on Facebook in June, calling him “a bearer of compassion in a time where it is far too rare.”

In 2012, Latif led a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia that included Omar Mateen, who would later murder 49 people at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, the deadliest anti-LGBTQ attack in U.S. history. He has denied radicalizing Mateen and he hasn’t faced the same type of allegations that surround the other imams.

For many Muslim political organizations backing Mamdani, these clerics are not liabilities but assets, serving as trusted gatekeepers to the city’s growing community of Muslim voters.

After Mamdani visited Wahhaj’s mosque earlier this month, he tweeted out a photo of the two with the caption: “Pleasure to meet Imam Siraj Wahhaj, one of the nation’s foremost Muslim leaders.” When a firestorm ensued, several allies rose to his defense: Sarsour, the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the leaders at Emgage Action.

Sarsour shared a selfie with Mamdani, beaming, like they did back in 2017, and wrote, “May Allah continue to bless and protect you.”

A defiant Wa’el Alzayat, the executive director of Emgage Action, sent out a dispatch to followers on Tuesday, amid criticism for their political work, promising, “We are in this for the long haul.”

Back in Minnesota, Al-Aqidi closely watched the defense of Mamdani.

“For over a decade, Linda Sarsour and her network of allies have built the Mamdani machine piece by piece: the institutions, the donors, the narratives and now, the candidate. There was no way they were going to throw him under the bus for one photo with one imam whom they happen to love,” said Al-Aqidi. “Mamdani is the fresh face of a radical coalition, and I hope New Yorkers will reject him. Win or lose, one fact remains undeniable. His rise was not spontaneous. It was engineered and the machinery behind it is only getting stronger.”

Al-Aqidi said; “I hope New Yorkers will shut the Mamdani machine down.”

‘Untold damage’: Global assisted suicide movement targets children

In the spring of 2022, Canadian teenager Markus Schouten’s dying wish was that no child should be forced to choose between life and death.

Markus had just learned he was about to die. His oncologist broke the news to him and his family on the eighth floor cancer ward at British Columbia Children’s Hospital in Vancouver, Canada. They held each other, weeping.

Weeks later, lying on his family’s living room sofa, Markus dictated a letter to the Canadian Parliament’s Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying, established to set guidelines on a federal law that allowed “assisted suicide” in Canada in 2016.

Markus opposed lobbying efforts to expand the law to children under the age of 18.

‘LOVE YOU FOREVER’ AUTHOR MAY SOON DIE BY ASSISTED SUICIDE, PRO-LIFE GROUPS CALL DECISION ‘HEARTBREAKING’

“That’s because life is worth living and we should always work to alleviate suffering without eliminating the sufferer,” read the final letter, which was signed by his parents.

The letter closed, “Life is worth living, even when we are dying.”

A month later, Markus died, surrounded by his family and friends, telling them, “See you in paradise.”

Three years later, his parents, Mike and Jennifer Schouten, are carrying the torch for Markus in a mission to block efforts to allow “mature minors” the right to choose to die through assisted suicide. They now work alongside a global network of like-minded advocates, including disability rights groups, who argue the assisted-suicide industry targets vulnerable people who would benefit from assisted living services. Already, in Canada, the law is expected to expand to patients with severe psychiatric disorders, as early as 2027.

But they are up against a powerful, well-funded machine. A Fox Digital investigation reveals the Schoutens and other opponents of euthanasia face a multimillion-dollar global lobby that could be called Assisted Suicide Inc., a sprawling network changing laws worldwide, developing euthanasia services for funeral parlors, selling “suicide pods,” promoting “suicide tourism” and even training “doulas for death.”

“As we continue to expand the euthanasia regime, all the safeguards and windows have gone out the window,” said Mike Schouten. “And it becomes open season for anyone to choose death, including children.”

AUSTRALIAN MOTHER CALLS FOR SOCIAL MEDIA AGE RESTRICTIONS AFTER DAUGHTER’S SUICIDE

What began as a limited effort to provide adults with terminal illnesses the ability to end pain and suffering has now grown into an international industry. According to a database compiled by the Pearl Project, a nonprofit journalism initiative, at least 96 organizations worldwide are now part of this movement.

The global lobby cloaks assisted suicide in the language of civil rights and human rights, using euphemisms in their names, such as “assisted dying,” “medical assistance in dying,” “dying with dignity,” “choice,” “end of life,” “completed life,” “final exit,” “free exit” and the “right to die.”

These groups have a presence on every continent, but are predominately found in the West, which also faces alarmingly low birth rates. There are 41 groups in Europe; 31 groups in North America, with 25 of them in the United States, four in Canada and two in Mexico; 13 in Oceania, with most in Australia and one in New Zealand; and only five in Asia, two in Africa, and three in South America.

While most of their work has focused on adults, with Robert Munsch, the Canadian author of the best-selling children’s book, “Love You Forever,” the latest high-profile person to recently announce he was approved for assisted suicide after being diagnosed with dementia. “Hello, Doc — come kill me!” he joked, sharing the news.

The boundaries are shifting. Behind the push to extend these laws to children lies a legal Trojan horse: the “mature minor doctrine.”

This concept, first established in a 1967 Washington Supreme Court case, Smith v. Seiblyonce allowed limited medical discretion for minors. But over decades, it has metastasized into a sweeping jurisdiction for granting children autonomy – and secrecy – over their medical decisions. Today, it lets minors make choices without parental involvement on gender pronouns, gender transitions, contraception and abortion. In 13 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, minors can even obtain abortions without parental knowledge.

FEDERAL COURT REJECTS CHALLENGE TO OKLAHOMA LAW BANNING GENDER TRANSITION TREATMENT FOR MINORS

Now, advocates are leveraging that same doctrine to argue that children should have the “medical autonomy” to choose death. The “National Youth Rights Association,” a 501(c)(3) nonprofit based in Hyattsville, Md., uses the “mature minors” to die by physician-assisted suicide.

Euthanasia is already legal for adults in Australia, Belgium, Colombia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain and 11 U.S. states. But three countries – the Netherlands, Belgium and Colombia – have gone further, allowing “mature minors” to die by physician-assisted suicide.

In February 2023, despite the pleas of Marcus and his parents, Canada’s Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying recommended extending the right to some youth, declaring that parents should be “consulted” but that the “will of a minor” with decision-making capacity “ultimately takes priority.”

The same debate has now reached the United Kingdom, where a bill to allow adult euthanasia is moving through the British Parliament. Earlier this year, the British House of Commons narrowly voted 259 to 216 to bar physicians from discussing assisted suicide with youth, meaning nearly half of lawmakers supported discussing assisted suicide for youth.

Katharine Birbalsingh, a British educator known as “Britain’s Strictest Headmistress,” believes it’s only a matter of time before youth are included.

“Assisted suicide will spread, full stop,” she told Fox Digital. “And the people allowed to do assisted suicide will grow, making it younger and younger.”

Birbalsingh argues that Western societies have fallen for the dangerous illusion that “the child must lead,” leading to thinking such as “Oh, he wants to change his gender, or he wants to commit suicide.”

“Once upon a time,” she said, “adults used to say, ‘No, the child is not capable of leading, because he is a child.‘ In the West, we have forgotten that we’re meant to be in charge as adults.”

“There’s just a million reasons why young people would want to choose death,” said Birbalsingh, the founder of the Michaela Community School in London. “You know, young people are compulsive, they make whimsical decisions. They make irresponsible decisions. They’re young. That’s sort of the definition of a child.”

“That’s why they need looking after,” Birbalsingh added. “That’s why we need to look after them as adults. That’s our job. It’s our role in life, to keep and protect them, sometimes from themselves. The people making these decisions just don’t understand young people.” Lawmakers said there was a “very real risk” that proposed assisted suicide legislation, called the “Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill,” would be expanded to include children if they didn’t vote for her amendment.

ITALIAN LAW WOULD REGULATE GENDER TRANSITION TREATMENT FOR MINORS

British Labour Party MP Meg Hillier voiced similar concerns during parliamentary debate, warning that teen brains make them particularly “susceptible to being influenced, including into dangerous and risky behavior.”

She said, “In a number of countries, assisted dying laws have been expanded to allow children and young people to end their lives. We need to be alert to that very real risk.”

Another MP, Sorcha Eastwood, cited social media’s toll on youth brain health, saying, “If we throw this into the mix, it has the potential to do untold damage.”

So far, pro-euthanasia groups in the U.S. have remained quiet about extending assisted suicide to minors, but critics fear it’s only a matter of time.

The British Children’s Commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza warned that the proposed changes would allow doctors to discuss assisted dying with 17-year-olds “deemed competent,” preparing them for the choice upon turning 18. In a May report, she said that she had convened a panel of youth to discuss the issue.

In Canada, the euphemism “MAID,” or “Medical Assistance In Dying,” has softened the conversation. But the statistics are stark. In 2023, about 15,000 Canadians died through “MAID,” about one in every 20 deaths nationwide, a 16% increase from 2022, making assisted suicide the fifth leading cause of death.

The movement is also big business. Dying with Dignity Canada, based in Toronto, reported $3 million in expenses in 2024, including $803,555 for advertising and promotions. It publicly argues that “mature minors should be allowed the right to choose MAID,” calling it “unfair” to deny a 17-year-old what a 70-year-old is granted.

The British Columbia Humanist Association, the Canada chapter of Humanists International Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit based in New York City, likewise demands MAID access for “mature minors” and “those whose sole underlying condition is a mental illness,” It insisting there is “no moral or ethical distinction between a mature minor and a young adult.” It argues: “Ensure Dignity in Death.” The “high priestess” of euthanisia, Dr. Ellen Wiebe, also supports extending assisted suicide to children.

The Netherlands offers a preview of what comes next. Legal since 2002, Dutch euthanasia laws permit doctors to end lives of children as young as 1, including newborns “suffering unbearably with no prospects of improvement.”

By 2024, euthanasia accounted for 9,958 deaths in 2024, or 5.8% of the country’s deaths.

DEMOCRATIC STATES SUE TRUMP ADMIN OVER ENDING SEX CHANGE SURGERIES FOR MINORS

A recent study published in the International Journal of Psychiatry found that among Dutch euthanasia applicants, 73% were young women with psychiatric diagnoses including major depression, autism, eating disorder, trauma-related disorders and a “history of suicidality.” The researchers acknowledged there is an “urgent need” to study “persistent death wishes” in this “high-risk group.”

In one chilling case, a boy with autism, aged 16 to 18, ended his life after describing it as “joyless” and “lonely,” according to the 2024 annual report of the Regional Euthanasia Review Committees, which approves medical-assisted suicides. His doctor “had no doubt about his decisional competence.”

Last year, 14 Dutch psychiatrists urged prosecutors to investigate a case involving a 17-year-old girl, Milou, who died by euthanasia after years of depression, anxiety and suicidal ideation, following childhood sexual abuse. They warned against the “widespread promotion of euthanasia” leading to “unnecessary deaths.” The Royal Dutch Medical Association scolded the psychiatrists, and prosecutors declined to act.

In 2014, Belgium became the second country in the world to allow child euthanasia, requiring parental consent. The Belgian Federal Euthanasia Review and Evaluation Committee says that six youths have requested euthanasia between 2014 and 2024. Last year, one young person made the request.

The industry has faced allegedly criminal revelations. In Australia, one alleged “euthanasia ring kingpin,” Brett Daniel Taylor, faces prison for selling vulnerable people lethal veterinary drugs nicknamed “the Green Dream.”

Back in Canada, Mike and Jennifer Schouten remain committed to fulfilling their son’s wish.

Michael remembers Markus lying on the sofa, dictating the words that became his son’s final message to lawmakers.

One day, in his final days, Markus said to his parents, “I can see what you are doing with your work is connected to what we’re going through. If we can share our story, we should.”

Now, Michael says, “I feel he is blessing our work.”

Anti-US protesters funded by pro-China tycoon mobilize as first bombs fall on Iran

Breaking the Fourth Wall: Left-wing groups defiant as GOP sheds light on groups tied to China

What to know about Tuesday’s House hearing on foreign influence in American nonprofits: ‘Follow the money’

Far-left nonprofits in the hot seat as lawmaker exposes them for ‘sowing chaos’ in US

Far-left group with foreign ties undermining US under guise of protest, report warns

‘White saviors” use of whistles causes bitter internal rift inside anti-ICE movement

Anti-ICE ‘digital Minutemen’ use military-grade surveillance tactics against feds

WATCH: Hardcore socialist groups stage-manage anti-ICE protest in Washington

The far-left network that helped put Alex Pretti in harm’s way, then made him a martyr

Tax committee Republicans press for Treasury crackdown on nonprofits promoting fraud, ‘anti-American’ hate

Red-Washing: How the media sanitizes a Marxist-Leninist revolutionary as a ‘preschool teacher’

Socialist groups chant ‘Killer Kristi’ while escalating nationwide anti-ICE protests

Familiar groups mobilize immediately after ICE shooting of Minnesota protester

Second front: How a socialist cell in the US mobilized pro-Maduro foot soldiers within 12 hours

Inside the Mamdani Machine: Soros cash, socialists and radical imams engineered Zohran Mamdani’s path to power

‘Untold damage’: Global assisted suicide movement targets children

Related Posts