Monthly regional updates
Update
United States and Canada Overview: October 2025
This past month, pro-immigration demonstrations spiked following the Chicago crackdown, labor groups mobilized for “Workers over Billionaires,” and demonstrators mobilized in response to Charlie Kirk’s killing
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 States1,136 demonstration events 35% increase compared to the same period last month |
Canada190 demonstration events 132% increase compared to the same period last month |
United States: Pro-immigration demonstrations spike following Chicago crackdown
On 8 September, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that it would be launching Operation Midway Blitz, a crackdown on illegal migration centered on Chicago but spanning Illinois and Lake County, Indiana.1 After just 13 days of the operation, DHS announced that it had arrested nearly 550 people.2
Demonstrations against the operation and in support of migrants were organized across Illinois in response, leading to the largest number of pro-immigration demonstrations in the state in a single month since ACLED began collecting data on the United States in 2020. In at least five instances, pro-migration demonstrators attempted to impede detentions at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in the Chicago suburb of Broadview by blocking law enforcement vehicles with their bodies, leading to confrontations with law enforcement and arrests. Since the beginning of the year, ACLED records over 40 instances across the country of demonstrators attempting to physically impede law enforcement in the course of migration-related actions.
United States: Labor groups mobilize for “Workers over Billionaires”
On the Labor Day holiday on 1 September, labor groups across the country mobilized for the “Workers over Billionaires” day of action, organizing hundreds of demonstrations to insist on support for social safety nets such as Medicaid and Social Security, along with a variety of other progressive demands.3 These demonstrations, which were held across 48 states and in Washington, DC, were the latest in a series of “days of action,” mass mobilizations for progressive causes. Workers Over Billionaires represented a rebound in the number of demonstrations for these days of action, following a steep drop for last month’s Rage Against the Regime. Though Workers Over Billionaires surpassed Rage Against the Regime by over 200 demonstrations nationwide, it nonetheless resulted in far fewer demonstrations than prior days of action, such as Hands Off and No Kings. Still, the protests organized on this day of action alone represented around a quarter of all demonstrations in September.
United States: Demonstrators mobilize in response to Kirk killing
On 10 September, the conservative political activist Charlie Kirk, executive director and co-founder of Turning Point USA, was fatally shot during a campus event at Utah Valley University's Fountain Courtyard in Orem, Utah, before a crowd of about 3,000 people. Following a multi-day search, law enforcement arrested a suspect. While the shooter’s exact motivations are not yet known, Trump moved swiftly to connect the assassination to far-left politics and issued an executive order classifying antifa as a “domestic terror organization” (for more on Kirk’s assassination and the designation, see this Q&A).
In the wake of Kirk’s death, demonstrations in support of Kirk took place in 28 states and in Washington, DC. Kirk was regarded as a divisive political figure whose rhetoric and legacy were hotly debated in the days following his murder.4 Only a small handful of demonstrations condemning him were organized in September. Demonstrations showing support for Kirk outnumbered anti-Kirk demonstrations by a factor of more than eight to one.
Radical group trends
This section provides key figures on far-right and white nationalist groups.5
| 37 events, of which 27 involve white nationalist groups | 15 radical groups active, of which 8 are white nationalist | White nationalist groups were most active in Utah | Other radical groups were most active in Arizona |
Group Spotlight: Extremist groups mobilize over Kirk’s death
Extremist groups, including groups that had been less active in recent months, participated in at least seven demonstrations related to Kirk’s killing. Several of these groups, including the Goyim Defense League, Patriot Front, and the Active Club network, participated in a 13 September pro-Kirk demonstration in Huntington Beach, California, where they brawled with a bystander. This event marked the Goyim Defense League’s first participation in a demonstration since February, while Active Clubs’ attendance at this and other pro-Kirk protests represented their highest demonstration activity in a single month since a white nationalist day of action in April 2024.
Footnotes
- 1
John Garcia et al., “2 apparent US citizens swept up in Elgin ICE raid documented on Noem's social media: VIDEO,” ABC 7, 17 September 2025; Hamed Aleaziz and Julie Bosman, “Trump Administration Says It Has Begun Immigration Crackdown in Chicago,” New York Times, 8 September 2025
- 2
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- 5
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.
