Settlement reached in North Dakota lawsuit alleging intimidation by white nationalist hate group

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Two North Dakota nonprofits have settled their lawsuit against a white nationalist hate group that alleged it intimidated immigrant business owners, though the details are unclear.

A court docket entry last week gave notice of the settlement following a conference in Fargo, and attorneys have not provided details.

In 2023, the North Dakota Human Rights Coalition, the Immigrant Development Center and the center’s executive director sued Patriot Front, two of its leaders and 10 unidentified others, alleging they violated the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871, among other claims. The plaintiffs sought unspecified damages to be determined at trial, along with other requested relief.

Their complaint alleged members of Patriot Front vandalized businesses and public property in recent years, including spray-painting Patriot Front designs on the front of the International Market Plaza, an indoor marketplace for immigrant business owners in Fargo. The complaint also claims they defaced a mural depicting Black women wearing hijabs.

Last year, a federal judge dismissed some of the claims against two Patriot Front leaders, Thomas Rousseau and Trevor Valescu.

An assistant for the white nationalist group’s attorney, Jason Lee Van Dyke, said this week that he was unavailable to comment on the settlement. A spokesperson for a legal group representing the plaintiffs said Thursday they could not immediately provide comment.

Other lawsuits in recent years have cited the Ku Klux Klan Act, including one from multiple Democratic U.S. representatives against President Donald Trump in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Last month, a federal judge awarded a Black man more than $2.7 million in his lawsuit citing the same civil rights law against Patriot Front, Rousseau and unnamed others. He had accused group members of beating him in “coordinated, brutal, and racially motivated attack” in 2022 in Boston.

Patriot Front is a white nationalist hate group that broke off from Vanguard America, a group involved in the deadly “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017, said Rachel Carroll Rivas, interim director at the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Intelligence Project. Patriot Front is “very theatrical” with marches, public displays and racist propaganda, she said.

The North Dakota lawsuit could impact the group’s recruitment because of the accountability it brings, Carroll Rivas said.

“If we have less people involved, that is a win,” she said.