The article says he's the leader of antifa because he lives next door to an ICE facility and let's other protesters come in to use his sink and shower. This makes his place an antifa stronghold apparently.

I think it's more that the people in charge are just your psycho brain rotted Uncle and they see antifa everywhere. Especially since their directives from up top are to "uncover antifa".

Now if they want to detain you indefinitely, or fuck with you, they just say "antifa commander" and you're suddenly on 15 different watchlists.