The FBI says the far-right nationalist group the Proud Boys, who have figured into incidents of political violence around the country, are actively recruiting in the Northwest and are seen as an extremist group by the federal agency, according to documents from the Clark County Sheriff’s Office.

“The FBI categorizes the Proud Boys as an extremist group with ties to white nationalism,” the sheriff’s office said in an internal affairs investigation obtained by good-government nonprofit groups Property of the People and The Sparrow Project. “The FBI has warned local law enforcement agencies that the Proud Boys are actively recruiting in the Pacific Northwest and that some Proud Boy members have contributed to the recent escalation of violence at political rallies held on college campuses, and in cities like Charlottesville, Virginia; Portland, Oregon; and Seattle, Washington.”

The internal affairs investigation was prompted by The Columbian’s reporting on a sheriff’s deputy’s ties to the Proud Boys group. The FBI’s description of the Proud Boys was first reported by The Guardian, which confirmed the authenticity of the document, and that the sheriff’s office learned of the designation in an August briefing with an FBI analyst regarding area extremist groups.

The Proud Boys were labeled a hate group by extremism watchers at the Southern Poverty Law Center. Members of the Proud Boys, which was founded by Gavin McInnes in 2016, were seen during a rally in Charlottesville last year, where a right-wing extremist is accused of killing an anti-racism activist.

Locally, members were implicated in an attack on an African-American teen in the Vancouver Mall parking lot in May after the boy allegedly swore at them. In June, Proud Boy members allegedly assaulted a man on the street in Portland, after he swore at them while they drove around town yelling at strangers in support of President Donald Trump’s proposed border wall.