The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has released a new report detailing how hard-right groups have significantly expanded their influence across the US government, even as the government pursues federal fraud charges against the civil rights organization.
Published on Tuesday, the report identifies 1,263 hate and anti-government groups operating throughout 2025. This comes less than two months after the SPLC itself was indicted by the very government it accuses of being infiltrated by the far right.
According to the SPLC's annual Year in Hate and Extremism report, the Trump administration has 'radically transformed government policy in favor of far-right interests and individuals' since the start of his second presidency in early 2025.
Key Findings of the Report
The report highlights several concerning developments. Among them are the administration's 'full, complete and unconditional' presidential pardons for approximately 1,500 individuals involved in the January 6, 2021 Capitol attack. Additionally, federal law enforcement has shifted its focus from combating violent crime to conducting immigration raids targeting marginalized communities.
The report states that 23% of all FBI agents have been reassigned to immigration enforcement, stripping personnel from other critical areas such as white-collar crime, counter-terrorism, organized crime, and cybercrime.
'The Trump administration's shift away from traditional law enforcement priorities, staffing and funding, along with its embrace of dangerously aggressive and reckless immigration enforcement tactics, has made US citizens less safe and more likely to be victimized,' the report asserts.
Downplaying Right-Wing Extremism
The SPLC report also claims that the administration has 'downplayed the threat of right-wing extremist violence,' thereby increasing the threat posed by far-right extremism. It points to the Senate's confirmation of senior officials like Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, FBI Director Kash Patel, and former National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent, all of whom have espoused racist and misogynistic views.
Furthermore, the administration dismantled a national database tracking domestic terrorism and hate crimes. The Justice Department removed a peer-reviewed study from its website that found far-right attacks continue to 'outpace all other types of terrorism and domestic violent extremism.'
Rise of Young, Digital-Savvy Right-Wingers
The report notes a rise in younger, digitally savvy right-wingers who have been 'granted unprecedented access to the federal government, gained political power in exchange for creating content that helped sell the administration's policies targeting immigrants, LGBTQ+ people, women and poor folks.'
It cites Andy Ngo, a right-wing provocateur who told Trump during a roundtable in October that 'perhaps the state department should designate Antifa – its international arm – a foreign terrorist organization.' Trump responded, 'Would you like to see it done? You think it would help? I'd be glad to do it. I think it's the kind of thing I'd like to do. Does everybody agree? If you agree, I agree. Let's get it done.'
Antifa is a reference to the anti-fascist movement. After the roundtable, the Trump-led State Department declared four left-wing military groups as foreign terrorist organizations.
The SPLC report concludes: 'Throughout 2025, the administration and its allies leaned on an increasingly extreme set of influencers to sell their reactionary, hierarchical vision of the world to a younger generation.'
Call to Action
In a statement accompanying the report, Erin Wilson, director of the SPLC's intelligence project, urged the public to act on the rising threat of hard-right groups. 'Communities are facing the harsh realities of this hard-right power grab. From kitchen table conversations to mass-mobilizing marches, everyone has a role to play right now. There is power in civic engagement and everyday acts of solidarity, education and action,' she said.
