Sovereign Citizen Extremism


May 31, 2012

The FBI is focused on disrupting potential violence by members of the sovereign citizen extremist movement.


Audio Transcript

Mollie Halpern: The FBI is focused on disrupting potential violence by members of the sovereign citizen extremist movement.

I’m Mollie Halpern of the Bureau, and this is FBI, This Week. Sovereign citizens reject the authority of government and renounce their obligation to adhere to laws. Supervisory Special Agent Casey Carty says they have a constitutional right to their beliefs, but...

Casey Carty: The ideology itself promotes the violence; it encourages the violence in some cases. We have a duty to be proactive to follow up on these types of threats when we know these things exist.

Halpern: The number of successfully prosecuted FBI cases in which violence has erupted when sovereign citizens encounter law enforcement and government officials has increased.

In an effort to prevent violence, the FBI is providing training to local and state law enforcement.

Carty: We are being inundated right now with requests for training from state and local law enforcement on sovereign-related matters.

Halpern: Sovereign citizen extremists are also using white-collar crime schemes to target other victims. For more information, visit FBI.gov.

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