A petition that calls for the Trump administration to designate the Ku Klux Klan as a terrorist organization as of Tuesday night had racked up more than 1.6 million signatures, but the designation is impossible, according to two government officials.
Last week, a Washington state man launched the “Change KKK Status into Terrorist Organization” petition, which states that since the inception of the organization at the end of the Civil War, its members have intimidated and murdered people based on ethnicity or religion, specifically black Americans.
“We ask if ISIS or ISIL is labeled a terrorist group for their acts, then surely the KKK fit the clear description of a terrorist,” the petition states.
The petition is directed at the Department of Homeland Security, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and the “Department of Counterterrorism,” which does not exist. Nevertheless, federal officials said the petition is asking for a classification that does not exist.
“There is no legal authority within the United States government to designate domestic organizations as terrorists,” a senior State Department official told the Washington Examiner.
Terror designations are made by the State Department, which then allows the Treasury Department to freeze group members’ financial transactions and lets DHS block members from entering the U.S. The State Department can deem a person or group as Specially Designated Global Terrorists or Foreign Terrorist Organizations, but no terrorist status exists for violent domestic groups, such as the KKK or antifa, a leftist movement.
Last fall, then-acting DHS Secretary Kevin McAleenan announced white supremacy groups had been added to its domestic terrorism threats list, which made them a greater concern but did not make associating with one a federal crime.
The public outcry for the KKK being deemed a terrorist organization comes amid weeks of nationwide protests over racial inequality in the justice and law enforcement systems. Many of the protests erupted into violence, with looting and fires started in cities and towns.
Attorney General William Barr blamed “antifa and other similar groups” for the violence. On May 31, President Trump said his administration intended to designate antifa a terrorist organization, though it has yet to do so.
Several online petitions calling for antifa to be declared a terrorist organization have also been launched on Change.org. One such petition started before the protests mustered 13,000 signatures.
