Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) is urging the Department of Justice to investigate whether the 31 white nationalists arrested by Idaho Police for conspiracy to riot at an Idaho Pride event violated federal law.
The men, identified as members of the white supremacist organization Patriot Front, have been charged with the state-level misdemeanor of conspiracy to riot and released on bond.
For Rush, this is not enough. He said the Department of Justice, led by Attorney General Merrick Garland, must now step forward.
“I’m so alarmed that under state law they’ve only been charged with a misdemeanor,” said Rush. “This is more lethal and much more serious than a misdemeanor. If the state won’t rise up and get tough on these outlaws creating havoc in our nation, then the Department of Justice must step forward as the last barrier of protection for our nation and democracy.”
On Wednesday, Rush sent a letter to the DOJ saying “the idea that these men could escape felony charges flies in the face of equal protection under the law.”
He called the intent to start a riot at a Pride parade “particularly heinous” and urged the DOJ to investigate the men under the Anti-Riot Act.
The Anti-Riot Act of 1968 makes it illegal to travel across state lines “to organize, promote, encourage, participate in, or carry on a riot; or … to commit any act of violence in furtherance of a riot.” The federal crime is punishable by up to five years of imprisonment.
Those arrested in Idaho — including Patriot Front founder Thomas Rousseau — came from at least 11 states, including Washington, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Colorado, South Dakota, Illinois, Wyoming, Virginia and Arkansas.
Rush said the Anti-Riot Act has a “sordid” history in part because of how it was used against the Chicago 7 — the activists charged with breaking that law when police attacked demonstrators at the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago.
But Rush said the Justice Department could help overcome that legacy if used “for legitimate purposes” in this investigation.
“The only way we can send a resounding message to not only the militia in Idaho but any future militia anywhere in the country is if they cross state lines [for violence] then the full weight of the federal government is going to come crushing down,” Rush said.
Rush’s letter also comes as hate crimes have been on the rise.
The FBI reported 8,052 single-bias incidents in 2020. Twenty percent of those incidents were motivated by sexual orientation and 2.7 percent by gender identity. Nearly 62 percent of incidents were motivated by race, ethnicity or ancestry.
During the pandemic, Stop AAPI Hate reported more than 9,000 incidents against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. And most recently, the racist mass shooting at the Buffalo Tops grocery store highlighted the rise in anti-Black hate crimes.
Rush said he is “very alarmed” by the increase in hate crimes around the country. “These white right-wing extreme racists are terrorists within our own borders,” he said. “They are the number one threat to the constitutional democracy.”