What follows is a state-by-state list of the 173 groups that constitute the nativist extremist movement, as fissured as it may be. In the case of three major groups — the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, the Minuteman Project, and the Federal Immigration Reform and Enforcement Coalition — acronyms have been added to help identify affiliated chapters that use other names. Groups marked by an asterisk (*) are also listed by the Southern Poverty Law Center as hate groups.

Although the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) bills itself as an "independent" think tank that seeks "to expand the base of public knowledge"about immigration, the Washington, D.C.-based group is only interested in one thing.

Almost every day now, it's possible to hear supposedly authoritative "facts" about illegal immigration and immigrants bandied about by politicians, major media commentators and even allegedly objective news reporters.

After a drastic decline in civil rights enforcement by the U.S. Justice Department over much of the past decade, President Obama's declaration during the State of the Union Address that his administration is "once again prosecuting civil rights violations" is a promising sign.