That increase translates into a 40 percent jump in the number of groups since 2000, when there were 602 hate groups operating in America, according to research by the Center's Intelligence Project. Much of the expansion has been driven by hate groups' exploitation of the issue of illegal immigration, which many Americans see as a pressing concern.

Last year's hate group growth came despite continuing disarray on the neo-Nazi scene, with various relatively weak groups vying for dominance; a series of embarrassments, including the arrests of two key leaders; the deaths of many stalwarts of the white supremacist old guard; signs of a splintering skinhead alliance; and the absence of any single major group working to unify the others.

At the same time that hate groups continued to proliferate, the United States has seen the breathtakingly rapid rise of a right-wing anti-immigration movement made up of groups that are xenophobic but mostly stop short of the open racial hatred espoused by hate groups. In just the past two years, some 250 new nativist organizations have sprung up, some of them armed and engaged in vigilante round-ups of unauthorized Latino immigrants. More and more of them have taken up the tactics of personal, in-your-face intimidation.

Anti-immigrant sentiment grows
Most of these anti-immigration groups routinely denigrate unauthorized Latino immigrants and also popularize conspiracy theories that originate in hate groups, such as an alleged Mexican plot to annex the American Southwest. As a result, it is no longer uncommon for these ideas and theories to make their way to radio, television or other mainstream venues. Even U.S. congressmen now bandy about unsubstantiated accusations of immigrant criminality, helping to whip up an atmosphere in which immigrants are seen as personally threatening.

"This kind of really vile propaganda begins in hate groups, makes its way out into the larger anti-immigration movement, and, before you know it, winds up in places like 'Lou Dobbs Tonight' on CNN," said Mark Potok, director of the Intelligence Project. "This country needs a robust debate on immigration, but it does not need a debate based on racist allegations and bogus conspiracy theories."

Although the anti-immigration movement has endured several recent splits, it appears to be growing more radical overall, particularly since its supporters on the right wing of the Republican Party have grown increasingly isolated and weak as the GOP suffers from election losses and an unpopular war. That radicalization was reflected in a recent comment from Chris Simcox, a co-founder of the Minuteman Project who had been a relatively moderate voice in the nativist movement.

"Be prepared and stock up on survival supplies, you may well need them," Simcox warned movement colleagues in an e-mail early this year, as immigration legislation that could expand the guest worker program advanced. "I'm not advocating it, nor am I claiming I will participate, however, the fact remains, hundreds of thousands of Americans will consider this the final straw, violent civil disobedience will break out all over the country if this legislation gets passed."

SPLC Report
Spring 2007