Report: An 'Astonishing' Rise In Anti-Immigrant, Anti-Government Groups

[onehandle]

When the Obama administration's Department of Homeland Security released a report this past August raising concern about the rise of "right-wing extremist activity," a debate erupted over whether the findings were politically motivated or based on factual analysis.

A slew of stories of right-wing violence -- from the shooting at the Washington D.C. Holocaust Museum to attacks on IRS buildings -- seem to verify DHS's warnings. And a new report by the Southern Poverty Law Center, an organization that tracks instances of violent extremism, provides further evidence.

On Tuesday, the SPLC released its quarterly intelligence report, titled "Rage on the Right," in which it charted what officials described as "an astonishing" rise in "nativist extremist" and anti-government "Patriotic" groups. The former, which includes institutions that "go beyond mere advocacy of restrictive immigration policy to actually confront or harass suspected immigrants," saw its numbers bulge from 173 groups in 2008 to 309 in 2009. The latter saw an even larger explosion in numbers, going from 149 groups (including 42 militias) in 2008 to 512 (including 127 militias) in 2009.

"That is cause for grave concern," the SPLC concludes. "Individuals associated with the Patriot movement during its 1990s heyday produced an enormous amount of violence, most dramatically the Oklahoma City bombing that left 168 people dead."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/02/report-an-astonishing-ris_n_482409.html