To the Federal Bureau of Investigation:

The FBI’s surveillance of activists in the United States is becoming increasingly dangerous.

Repeated leaks have revealed that the FBI lied about the extent of its tracking of Black activists and covered up a program called IRON FIST that it created to target and infiltrate racial-justice groups. And yet another leak showed that the Bureau is treating groups protesting the administration's abhorrent immigration policies at the U.S. border as “extremist organizations.”

Dissent is a vital part of our democracy that’s protected under the First Amendment. It’s unacceptable to label nonviolent activist groups as potentially violent “extremists” to chill organized opposition to this administration's policies.

Stop surveilling, targeting and undermining immigrant-rights activists, anti-fascists and Black Lives Matter organizers.

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    To the FBI: Leave Activists Alone. Sincerely, Free Press Action

    Demand That the FBI Stop Targeting Activists

    The FBI has historically used surveillance and infiltration to disrupt protest movements (as it did with COINTELPRO, which targeted civil-rights leaders, antiwar activists and others in the 1950s and ’60s). This dangerous trend has continued under Trump — the Bureau is targeting activists at a terrifying rate and labeling nonviolent protest movements as “extremist.”1

    Repeated leaks have revealed that the FBI has lied about the extent of its tracking of Black activists and covered up a program called IRON FIST that it created to target and infiltrate racial-justice groups.2 And yet another leak showed that the Bureau is treating groups protesting the administration's abhorrent immigration policies at the U.S. border as “extremist organizations.”3

    These developments are extremely concerning. It appears that the FBI protocol is to ignore real domestic threats (like violent white supremacists) and instead go after anyone who opposes the Trump administration’s policies.

    Dissent is a vital part of our democracy. The FBI’s labeling of nonviolent activist groups as potentially violent “extremists” is meant to chill organized opposition to this administration's dangerous policies.

    Tell the Bureau to leave activists alone.

    1. “Document Reveals the FBI Is Tracking Border Protest Groups As Extremist Organizations,” HuffPost, Sept. 4, 2019: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/fbi-tracking-border-protest-groups_n_5d6ff5c2e4b09bbc9ef8ed2b

    2. “The FBI vs. Black Lives,” Free Press, Aug. 23, 2019: https://www.freepress.net/news/updates/fbi-vs-black-lives

    3. “Document Reveals the FBI Is Tracking Border Protest Groups As Extremist Organizations,” HuffPost, Sept. 4, 2019: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/fbi-tracking-border-protest-groups_n_5d6ff5c2e4b09bbc9ef8ed2b