Epoch Times – by Zachery Stieber
Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said that the far-left extremist Antifa group should stay away from Texas in the wake of a mass shooting at an El Paso Walmart on Aug. 3.
Patrick, speaking to Fox News, was addressing a plan from Antifa to conduct a “Border Resistance” militant action in the border city on Sept. 1 after events in cities across the Midwest and West, including Chicago, Seattle, and Portland.
“Clear message to Antifa: stay out of El Paso,” Patrick said. “Stay out of Texas, basically. We don’t need them coming in on Sept. 1. We didn’t need them to begin with before this happened. But I would say to Antifa, scratch Texas off your map.”
Patrick said he saw a story about Antifa planning to go to Texas, prompting his remarks.
“It is not the time or place for them to come in anytime, but particularly in the aftermath of what just happened in El Paso,” Patrick added.
Awareness of Antifa’s summer events came from journalist Andy Ngo, who shared pictures of the planned tour.
Antifa listed events in Santa Cruz, Oakland, Olympia, Portland, Seattle, Minneapolis, and Chicago leading up to the “Meet me in Texas” event in El Paso, which was slated to start on Sept. 1 and unfold over the following nine days. Four of the events have already happened.
Ngo was assaulted in broad daylight last month in Portland by about eight Antifa members. Another Antifa member, armed with a rifle, went to an immigration detention facility in Washington state on July 13 and threw firebombs at vehicles before attempting to blow up a propane tank. He was shot dead.
Antifa is leading a "Border Resistance" militancy training tour that will converge on a 10-day siege in El Paso, TX. The promotional image shows border enforcement officers being killed & government property fired bombed. Organizers asking for "white comrades" to pay for others. pic.twitter.com/zwG7iMLMZT
— Andy Ngo (@MrAndyNgo) July 29, 2019
Extremists glorified the terrorist, calling him a hero and a martyr.
Antifa’s activities have increasingly been on the radar of lawmakers and others. Republican Senators introduced a bill on July 18 that would label Antifa a domestic terror group, a day after Trump criticized Antifa at a North Carolina rally.
“These are bad people. These are sick, bad people. These are bad people,” he told the crowd. “They don’t get the bad press, the press doesn’t want to talk to them. They are very evil: they are hitting people over the head with sticks, I mean bats even. They’re whacking people with bats. ”
He described how Ngo was unarmed and beaten and how Antifa members typically wear masks to obscure their faces so they can get away with criminal activity. The next week, Trump said he might declare Antifa “a major organization of terror.”
A video shared by Ngo on Friday showed a masked Antifa member chasing an activist down the street in Portland during Antifa’s training day there recently.
The moment a masked antifa person chased a man down the street with a knife was captured on a livestream by right-wing activist Haley Adams. Antifa had come together to patrol the street where the Portland "Border Resistance" training was happening. pic.twitter.com/nXyQlaIZrU
— Andy Ngo (@MrAndyNgo) August 3, 2019
According to the website Ngo posted, “Local and national organizers are working together to build 10 days of trainings and direct actions for the Border Resistance Convergence in El Paso, TX – September 1-10th.”
“We are calling on affinity groups everywhere to come together and help us address US-funded genocide and local concentration camps,” the website added, using language popularized by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) to describe immigration detention facilities.
The Washington Antifa terrorist used the term multiple times in his manifesto.
Few other details about planned activities were available on the Border Resistance website.
“Clear message to Antifa: stay out of El Paso,” Patrick said. “Stay out of Texas, basically.”
THAT SHOULD BE THE CLEAR MESSAGE TO ALL THE ILLEGAL INVADERS, TRAITOR!!!
YOU HAVE THE AUTHORITY TO KEEP THEM OUT… YOU DON’T HAVE THE AUTHORITY TO KEEP AMERICANS (Antifa) OUT, REGARDLESS OF WHAT KIND OF SCUMBAGS THEY ARE!!!!!
THE “ANTIFANS” ARE A PROTECTED CLASS NOW………