You're asking the wrong questions @chrispreilly. You should ask why the RNC is so eager to label BLM and Antifa as "criminal organizations", why they want to invoke legislation designed to deal with the Mafia for Pete's sake.
Criminal behavior should be dealt with as always, on an individual basis. What's happening now however is pure fascism; people are being picked up (not arrested, mind you) by federal agents without name-tags, without being informed about the reason, loaded in unmarked vans and kicked out again after their photo has been taken and their personal information collected. The fact that you're even trying to defend this scares the hell out of me and makes me wonder if you're even aware of what exactly you're trying to defend.