WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, America First Legal (AFL) filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request seeking records from the Department of Justice’s National Security Division regarding its newly created “Domestic Terrorism Unit.” 

On January 11, 2022, Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary, saying, “The threat of posed by domestic terrorism is on the rise” and so he has “decided to establish a Domestic Terrorism Unit to augment our existing approach.” 

However, the Unit’s focus is not what you might expect. It is not, for example, Islamic terrorists attacking a Texas synagogue. Rather, in the same vein as the Attorney General’s October 4 Memorandum targeting American parents and the Biden Administration’s National Strategy for Countering Domestic Terrorism targeting free speech, the Domestic Terrorism Unit will focus its energy on American citizens who question or object to the Biden Administration’s policies and priorities.

AFL’s sources suggest that Biden Administration appointees and ideologically allied career officials have singled out political conservatives, such as Christian evangelicals, pro-family groups, border security advocates, and pro-life activists, for heightened scrutiny, and that such citizens are understood “by everyone involved” to be the Domestic Terrorism Unit’s targets.

AFL will continue to fight against all of the Biden Administration’s works to silence the American people. 

Read the FOIA here.