An attorney with the far-left nonprofit Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) was arrested Sunday for allegedly committing domestic terrorism to stop a police facility from being built.
The Atlanta police department said Sunday night that Thomas Webb Jurgens was among the 23 people charged after a “group of violent agitators used the cover of a peaceful protest of the proposed Atlanta Public Safety Training Center to conduct a coordinated attack on construction equipment and police officers. They changed into black clothing and entered the construction area and began to throw large rocks, bricks, Molotov cocktails, and fireworks at police officers.”
According to the State Bar of Georgia, Thomas Webb Jurgens is an attorney for the SPLC who was admitted to the bar in 2021. He is one of only two of the 23 alleged agitators who were actually from Georgia, according to the police.
On LinkedIn, Jurgens says he is a staff attorney for the SPLC’s Economic Justice Project, a former assistant public defender in Orlando, and a graduate of the University of Georgia. Public records reviewed by The Daily Wire matching the name and birthdate provided by Atlanta police match up with the job history on LinkedIn, showing the study of law at the University of Georgia and past residency in Orlando.
SPLC’s website says its Economic Justice initiative seeks to reform the criminal justice system, “stopping the use of ‘offender-funded’ services such as private ‘probation’ companies” and “working to reform bail systems that discriminate against the poor and to stamp out abusive practices by bail bond companies.”
The SPLC did not return a request for comment. Jurgens’ cell phone was turned off.
Jurgen’s arrest was first noted by Republican operative Greg Price, who pointed out that the FBI has relied on SPLC’s judgments about who is a “hate group.” Rep. Dan Bishop (R-NC) asked in response: “Will the SPLC be listing itself as a hate group?”
Last month, an FBI whistleblower leaked a document showing that the FBI was investigating those practicing “radical-traditionalist Catholic ideology” as potential domestic extremists, in part by citing that the SPLC listed the faction among its “hate groups.” The FBI rescinded the document after it leaked, saying it “does not meet the exacting standards of the FBI.”
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The FBI previously called the SPLC “a well-known, established and credible” organization, and it has briefed the FBI on purported domestic terror, Fox News reported.
In 2013, a man shot an employee of the Family Research Council (FRC), targeting it, he said, because SPLC said it was a hate group. He said he planned to kill as many people as possible there and smear Chick-fil-A sandwiches on them as they died.
SLPC raises millions of dollars through fundraising solicitations suggesting that they’re stamping out groups like the KKK. In reality, it has branded a wide variety of conservative groups as “hate groups,” and conducts generic liberal advocacy such as opposing school choice.
SPLC has enormous influence in the public school system through Learning for Justice, its initiative which produces highly activist curriculum and gives it to teachers for free, encouraging them to use the outside lesson plan, which teachers find enticing because it saves them time of creating their own.