Regional Overview
United States & Canada
April 2025
Posted: 4 April 2025
In this Regional Overview covering March 2025:
Demonstration trends
This section provides key figures on demonstration events, which includes incidents categorized as 'Protests,' and 'Violent demonstrations' as recorded by ACLED. For more information on event and sub-event types, see the ACLED Codebook
United States
1,700 demonstration events
9% increase
compared to the same period last month1This Regional Overview covers ACLED data through 28 March. Data for 29-31 March will be available 9 April.
Canada
138 demonstration events
17% increase
compared to the same period last month
United States: Pro-Palestinian and pro-immigration demonstrations coalesce around Mahmoud Khalil
On 8 March, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers arrested Mahmoud Khalil, a former graduate student at Columbia University, for his role in organizing and participating in pro-Palestine demonstrations at his alma mater. ICE officers claimed that the State Department revoked his green card in accordance with President Donald Trump’s executive order related to antisemitism. The Trump administration also cited the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, which allows the secretary of state to deport individuals who pose “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences.”2Katie Selig, “What We Know About the Detentions of Student Protesters,” The New York Times, 27 March 2025 His detention triggered an increase in pro-Palestine demonstrations in the US called in support of Khalil, freedom of speech, and immigrant rights.
In response to the arrests of Khalil and other pro-Palestine international students, campus demonstrations in support of Palestine increased to their highest levels since October 2024, the one-year anniversary of the renewed war in Gaza. Meanwhile, around 40% of the more than 200 demonstrations in support of migrant rights in March also supported Palestinian rights.
United States: Vandals destroy Tesla property and widespread demonstrations continue unabated and in opposition to Elon Musk
Federal job cuts under Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) expanded in March, with various federal agencies, such as the US Postal Service, the Department of Education, and the Department of Veterans Affairs, announcing plans to cut tens of thousands of jobs.3Elena Shao and Ashley Wu, “The Federal Work Force Cuts So Far, Agency by Agency,” The New York Times, 1 April 2025 These planned job cuts have led to continued opposition from the public, and the federal workers impacted by them, in the form of “Tesla Takedown” demonstrations held at Tesla dealerships. Demonstrations expressing opposition to DOGE and Musk, the CEO of Tesla, continue to outpace anti-Trump demonstrations, with ACLED recording around 335 anti-Trump demonstrations and over 440 against Musk.
Planned job cuts at the Department of Veterans Affairs led to the highest participation of US veterans in demonstrations since ACLED began recording data in the US in 2020. Meanwhile, demonstrators turned out across 44 states for the American Postal Workers Union’s “day of action” on 20 March to protest the proposed plan to privatize the Postal Service.
Opposition to Musk also expanded into direct acts of destruction targeting businesses he owns, specifically Tesla. The FBI and the Justice Department have described these acts as “domestic terrorism,” and both have announced plans to crack down on them.4Matthew Rehbein et al., “FBI launches task force targeting anti-Tesla ‘domestic terrorism,’” CNN, 25 March 2025 ACLED records 10 acts of property destruction targeting Tesla vehicles, charging stations, and dealerships across the US and Canada, accounting for two-thirds of all recorded property destruction events last month. These events have been recorded in at least six US states and at least two Canadian provinces.
Radical group trends
This section provides key figures on far-right and white nationalist groups.
Far-right groups:
ACLED uses this term to refer to a variety of actors, from 'traditional' militias to militant street movements. Though they are also analyzed separately, this figure also accounts for white nationalist and neo-Nazi groups.
White nationalists:
ACLED uses this term to refer to groups that openly describe themselves as white nationalist, white supremacist, or neo-Nazi.
47
events, of which 31 involve white nationalist groups
11
radical groups active, of which 3 are white nationalist
Radical groups were most active in Utah
White nationalist groups were most active in Arizona
Extremist group spotlight: Patriot Front’s anti-immigration resurgence
On 1 March, Patriot Front affiliates held a demonstration at the State House in Columbia, South Carolina, using white supremacist rhetoric and condemning immigration — marking the state’s first anti-immigration demonstration recorded by ACLED. Most surrounding states have recorded at least one anti-immigration event since 2020, when ACLED began collecting data for the US. In 2025 so far, Patriot Front, one of the most active white supremacist groups, has taken part in over a third of all anti-immigration demonstrations across the US (for background on Patriot Front, see this group spotlight). Despite their current heavy focus on immigration — a reflection of extremist groups’ tendency to shapeshift their priorities to grab public attention — anti-immigration rhetoric only became a major part of Patriot Front’s demonstration activity in late 2024. In the years beforehand, Patriot Front demonstration activity typically focused on anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment, in particular protesting outside of drag shows and events.
Of note, on 22 February, Patriot Front affiliates held marches in five states — Texas, Iowa, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island — to demonstrate against mass immigration. This represents the single day with the highest demonstration activity, pointing to a new level of national coordination between the group’s state and regional chapters. In a notable event, Patriot Front affiliates demonstrated outside Senator Ted Cruz’s office in Houston, Texas. Under the Trump administration’s sweeping crackdown, the number of immigrant detentions has increased. However, the number of immigrant removals has actually lagged behind the Biden administration’s record due to a variety of factors, including the Trump administration’s decision to fire immigration judges.5Russell Contreras, “Immigrant removals continue slide under Trump, new data show,” Axios, 1 April 2025 With several high-profile immigration raids and detentions and lagging immigration removals, Patriot Front’s new focus on immigration is likely to dominate its priorities for the foreseeable future.
See More
See the Codebook and the User Guide for an overview of ACLED’s core methodology. For additional documentation, check the Knowledge Base. Region-specific methodology briefs can be accessed below.
Links:
For additional resources and in-depth coverage of demonstration and political violence trends across the US, check our dedicated US Crisis Monitor.
More Regional Overviews
