Authorities say the 31 people accused of trying to start a riot at an LGBTQ+ Pride event in Idaho this weekend belong to an extremist group based in Texas.
The suspects were released on bond after being charged with conspiracy to riot. Police say all of them belong to Patriot Front, a white supremacist organization headquartered in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The suspects include eight people from Texas, whom as Thomas Rousseau, 23, of Grapevine; Robert Whitted, 22, of Conroe; Tommy Walker Jr., 24, of Godley; Josiah Buster, 24, and Connor Moran, 23, of Watauga; and Kieran Morris, 27, Steven Tucker, 30, and Graham Whitsom, 31, of Haslet.
The Coeur d鈥橝lene City Police Department said on Saturday they responded to a call about 鈥渁 little army鈥� of people with masks and shields getting into a U-Haul van near the Pride event. Law enforcement said they also found at least one smoke grenade in the vehicle.
鈥淚 think some of us were a bit surprised by not only the level of preparation that we saw but the equipment that was carried and worn by those individuals along with the large amount of equipment that was left in the van when the stop happened,鈥� Lee White, the department鈥檚 police chief, said at a Monday press conference. 鈥淭hat level of preparation is not something you see every day.鈥�
White said it was unclear why the group targeted the Pride event in Idaho.
The white supremacist organization鈥檚 activity comes less than a week after the Department of Homeland Security 鈥� including the mass shootings in and Buffalo, New York; the upcoming U.S. Supreme Court decision on abortion access; and the November midterm elections 鈥� could be 鈥渆xploited to justify acts of violence against a range of possible targets.鈥�
Rousseau, who was among those arrested Saturday, is from the Dallas-area suburb of Grapevine and founded Patriot Front in 2017 鈥� following the Charlottesville, Virginia, 鈥淯nite the Right鈥� riot, according to the Anti-Defamation League. In Charlottesville, white supremacists stormed the city with tiki torches and rammed a car into a crowd of counter protesters, killing three people and injuring dozens of others.
鈥淭hey espouse racism, antisemitism and intolerance under the guise of patriotism and preserving the ethnic and cultural origins of European ancestors,鈥� Stacy Cushing, the deputy regional director of Anti-Defamation League鈥檚 Texas/Oklahoma branch, said about Patriot Front. 鈥淭heir goal is to reclaim America as a white nation. They are white supremacists with neo-Nazi roots.鈥�
Last year, nearly were identified across the country, with Texas-based Patriot Front responsible for more than 82% of incidents nationally, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
The extremist organization has hundreds of members nationwide. They are responsible for spreading racist propaganda with the intent to invoke fear and hate, said Jeff Tischauser, a senior research analyst at the Southern Poverty Law Center. Compared to other states, he said, the Texas chapter is 鈥渢he most active.鈥�
鈥淢embers from Texas regularly cross state lines to take part in racist activism, which includes harassing local residents at the Pride parade in Coeur d鈥橝lene, Idaho, as well as traveling out of state to post racist propaganda,鈥� Tischauser told the Tribune via email. 鈥淢embers from Texas also travel across state lines to destroy murals that depict Black life, LGBTQ pride, as well as memorials to victims of police violence and racially motivated mass shootings.鈥�
Since the formation of Patriot Front, the extremist group鈥檚 activity in Texas has included hanging a banner from a Dallas overpass that read, 鈥淭ake a knee, back in Africa,鈥� and heckling attendees at a book fair in Houston with smoke bombs and phrases such as 鈥淏lood and Soil,鈥� . They have also posted racist propaganda across college campuses,
Tischauser said Patriot Front has been using restrictive legislation and policies in Texas to recruit people for their cause.
Gov. issued a directive in February instructing the Department of Family and Protective Services to . An Austin judge last week Gender-affirming care is recommended by all major medical associations to treat gender dysphoria, the distress one can feel when their gender identity does not align with their biological sex.
Texas Republican officials have also waged a campaign against school material that includes the teaching of history and books with references to sexuality and race. In April, Lt. Gov. said he would prioritize , a Florida law that limits classroom discussions about LGBTQ+ people.
Members of Patriot Front 鈥渢hink the Texas GOP isn鈥檛 going far enough,鈥� Tischauser said.