Jessica Plichta became an unexpected symbol of protest when she was arrested live on television in Michigan after voicing support for Nicolás Maduro during a news interview. This moment captured the public’s attention, portraying her as a victim of excessive police force.

The 22-year-old from Grand Rapids was labeled by media outlets as a “preschool teacher,” an “anti-war activist,” and a protest “organizer.” While these descriptions are accurate, they only scratch the surface of her affiliations. A Fox News Digital investigation highlights a trend where media narratives often overlook the radical connections of left-wing activists, leaving audiences with an incomplete understanding of their broader objectives.

A booking photo of Jessica Plichta, 22, was released following her arrest during a protest in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

The Daily Beast featured a headline, “Preschool Teacher, 22, Arrested on TV After Condemning Trump,” along with an article that cynically remarked, “Welcome to America.” The Guardian, based in the UK, presented her as a progressive “anti-war” activist. Meanwhile, Democracy Now, known for its anti-Trump stance, expressed dismay, stating, “Grand Rapids Police Arrest Protest Antiwar Organizer After She Condemns Trump.”

However, few media outlets mentioned Plichta’s involvement with the radical Freedom Road Socialist Organization, a group that identifies as Marxist-Leninist and aims to establish socialism in the United States. This organization was investigated by the FBI in 2010 for alleged connections to terrorist groups, such as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. It is part of a larger network of Marxist-Leninist factions funded by a China-backed billionaire, dedicated to creating unrest in America by leveraging issues like the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and figures like Elon Musk and former President Donald Trump to fuel division.

On Jan. 20, 2025, activists from the Freedom Road Socialist Organization marched across Washington, D.C., with a banner, “FIGHT TRUMP’S AGENDA,” and flags from the Philippines and other foreign interests where they support communist and socialist efforts.   (Asra Q. Nomani)

But while the media worked to downplay or even hide Plichta’s radical ties, she has not been shy about her associations.

“I’m a proud cadre member of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization!” Plichta declared at a pro-Maduro protest Jan. 3, just hours after U.S. military forces had captured Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, for alleged narcoterrorism.

Jessica Plichta speaks into a megaphone at a protest in Grand Rapids Michigan, Jan. 3, 2026. (IG/FRSO Grand Rapids)

The Freedom Road Socialist Organization and Plichta didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Plichta’s case is one in a series in which the media glosses over – essentially red-washing – the radical ideologies of far-left people and organizations involved in protests and agitation against the Trump administration. Similarly, the media has largely described anti-ICE protester Renee Nicole Good, killed by an ICE officer in Minneapolis last week, as a “37-year-old mother of three” and “an amazing human being,” with little scrutiny of her participation in a militant anti-ICE group called “Minnesota ICE Watch,” which trains members to aggressively obstruct the work of ICE officers.

For the far-left, sanitizing protesters accomplishes an organizing strategy that its consultants recommend in information warfare: “lead with sympathetic characters.” The goal is often to disguise coordinated revolutionary activity as grassroots activism.

“It seems there is a widespread practice in the media of identifying conservatives by their political or group affiliations,” said Walter Kirn, a veteran journalist and editor-at-large at County Highway, a pioneering media publication. “They’re ‘MAGA.’ They’re ‘Trump supporters.’ They’re ‘far right.’

“Meanwhile, on the left,” Kirn said, “people are described sympathetically by their roles. They’re ‘moms.’ They’re ‘protesters.’ It’s an obvious double standard that should be corrected, particularly when membership in specific activist groups is involved.” Kirn also edits a Substack newsletter, “Unbound.”

In most cases, the activist groups are transparent about their work and proud of their objectives. The stated goal of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, which planted its red “FRSO” flag on the street where Good was killed, is to subvert the U.S. The Freedom Road Socialist Organization receives 501(c)(3) nonprofit benefits through the Lucy Parsons Institute for Social Research, a small Chicago nonprofit which last reported $264,004 in revenues. 

Plichta’s arrest on Jan. 3 came soon after she led the pro-Maduro protest through the streets of Grand Rapids, blocking intersections. Despite multiple warnings from police, the group refused to move to the sidewalk.

She read her speech from her phone, a megaphone in her hand, and the young revolutionary didn’t mince her words. 

“Free Maduro! Free Maduro!” she shouted. “We demand his safe return to Venezuela!” 

“Join us in the struggle against imperialism!” she continued.

“Brick by brick…wall by wall…one struggle will free us all!” she yelled.

Soon after, at about 5:30 p.m., outside the Fountain Street Church, Plichta was giving an interview to the local TV station, WZZM 13 On Your Side, when two Grand Rapids police officers came up behind her and arrested her for obstructing a roadway and failure to obey a lawful command from a police officer. Her mouth fell open, and she slowly put her hands above her head, saying, “I am not resisting arrest. I am going peacefully.”

Local media immediately reported the story, describing Plichta simply as a “preschool teacher” and protester. On Monday, she complained in an interview that police put her in their cruiser “without buckling my seatbelt.” The interview was staged with her comrades behind her, including one carrying a signed branded “Freedom Road Socialist Organization.” There was no mention of Plichta’s radical ideological orientation in the story.

National and international media soon followed suit, making Plichta a darling of the left. But to her self-described “comrades,” she and Freedom Road Socialist Organization were new stars in a sprawling movement, all under the International People’s Assembly, an umbrella group for about 200 communist, socialist and Marxist-Leninist groups worldwide. That group has more on its agenda than stopping the Trump administration from arresting illegal immigrants or even toppling South American dictators.

The International People’s Assembly is supported by controversial U.S. tech tycoon Neville Roy Singham, currently under investigation by the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee as an alleged propagandist for the Chinese Communist Party. Singham finances a number of groups in the U.S. in the socialist-communist network, fomenting anti-American sentiment on the streets, including The Answer Coalition, the Party for Socialism and Liberation, BreakThrough News and Code Pink, co-founded by his wife, Jodie Evans. 

On Aug. 19, 2024, members of Freedom Road Socialist Organization joined about 200 other groups, many of them socialist and Palestinian, in Chicago to march to protest the Democratic National Convention. Its members held signs calling for “VICTORY TO THE PALESTINIAN RESISTANCE.” The Hamas terrorist group calls itself “the resistance.” (Asra Q. Nomani)

In recent days, these groups have been actively mobilizing socialist, communist and Marxist-Leninist members nationwide to protest U.S. “imperialist” policies against immigrants, Venezuela, Palestinians and a host of other issues. Even there, major news outlets are largely ignoring the role of far-left groups in organizing the protests and describing them instead with sweeping statements framed as national consensus. CNN called the protests a “nationwide outcry,” while the New York Times described the demonstrations as a “mounting outrage. Neither CNN nor the New York Times described the demonstrations’ openly socialist organizers, even though the New York Times published two photos of the trademark black-and-white signs of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, its name in bold letters across the signs, and it even published one photo with “FRSO” and “Freedom Road Socialist Organization” across the bottom.

In its investigation of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, according to internal documents made public, the FBI launched its query in 2010 to see whether U.S. activists associated with the organization provided material support to foreign groups designated by the State Department as terrorist organizations. That investigation resulted in raids of activists’ homes and offices that the group called “repression” but didn’t lead to criminal charges.

The Freedom Road Socialist Organization and its network of socialist organizations hosting the anti-ICE protests believe the U.S. capitalist system must be abolished, and they support the communist governments of Cuba, China, Russia and North Korea.

It framed Plichta’s arrest as part of a pattern of “repression” against revolutionary activists. 

Plichta’s case illustrates how revolutionary groups can embed themselves within mainstream protest movements, like an insurgency, leveraging popular causes to advance a far more radical political agenda.

Whether the media was oblivious or purposeful, the clues to Plichta’s ideological radicalization were all there. She emerged from her brief stint at Kent County Correctional Facility with a red shirt with “FRSO” visible behind her winter jacket. 

On May 1, 2025, members of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization protested in Washington, D.C., blocks from the White House to support labor rights. “DOWN WITH BILLIONAIRES,” a sign read, with an image of Elon Musk. “WE NEED SOCIALISM.” (Asra Q. Nomani)

Inside the Fountain Street Church, the group’s organizational secretary, Tom Burke, president of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Local 26, gave the local chapter a pep talk in its defense of Maduro, its members leaning on their protest signs as they listened intently. One sign read: “Regime change begins at Home.”

Burke advised them to join other chapters and send a delegation to Maduro’s courtroom for his trial to “create havoc, make the country ungovernable for Trump and his friends and just stir it up everywhere we can.” 

“So, comrades, please join me, and we’re going to defeat Trump and his minions,” Burke said.

Next to him, Plichta nodded in agreement.

“Solidarity!” Burke closed.

Plichta joined the chant: “Solidarity!”