The Largest Hate Groups in the United States

Operating under a nonprofit status, the California-based group the American Patriot Vanguard, like several other groups on this list, is affiliated with the Three Percenters (or III%ers, or Threepers, or 3%ers). The Three Percenters is an extremist anti-government militia that argues the current U.S. government is tyrannical and a small number of dedicated “patriots” can protect Americans from it or overthrow it.

The neo-Nazi organization based in New England, the Nationalist Social Club (NSC-131), has many members who view themselves as combatants against a Jewish-controlled government plotting against the white race. Graffiti and social media posts by group members have espoused antisemitic conspiracy theories, including claims denying the holocaust and that the Israeli government caused 9/11.

More recently, NSC-131 members were among the participants in the deadly riot on Jan. 6 at the Capitol. Groups of NSC-131 associates formed counter-protests during at least five Black Lives Matter events between June and July 2020, shortly after the murder of George Floyd, according to the Anti-Defamation League. They defaced a mural with the phrase “Keep New England White,” and have targeted state representative Manny Espisita for criticizing their actions.

The Last Militia, also known as the Last Ohio Militia or TLM or The Club, is a private men’s-only limited liability corporation with five chapters in Ohio, as well as unverified chapters in Florida, Maine, Michigan, and Texas, as well as Poland. The reactionary militia group was formed in 2009. Members are organized into “tribal charters,” “state leadership,” and “national leadership” groups. The Last Militia is one of many paramilitary groups to form within the broader anti-government movement in the U.S.

Although the Pacific Justice Institute claims that its mission is to defend the rights of individuals, families, and churches, the hate group’s founder Brad Dacus has a long history of anti-LGBTQ rhetoric. Dacus and PJI have endorsed gay conversion therapy, fought against protections for trans children, compared the legalization of same-sex marriage to the rise of the Nazis in Germany, and even fabricated a story about a trans student harassing other kids at school.

The ASN Study Guide & University (American State Nationals) is a part of the Sovereign Citizens Movement, which believes they are not under the jurisdiction of the federal government and consider themselves exempt from U.S. law. Group membership has grown, with activities across various states, including California, New Jersey, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Wisconsin. The group operates seminars, where it charges $100 per ticket for events, and incorporates product sales.

Sovereign citizens, often linked to ASN, engage in harmful actions such as “paper terrorism,” filing numerous fake property liens and court documents against government officials. Additionally, they have been involved in housing-related schemes, fraudulently claiming ownership of empty homes.

The III% United Patriots is part of the anti-government militia movement. It is rooted in the belief that a small armed force can overthrow a perceived tyrannical government, akin to the 3% of colonists who allegedly fought the British during the American Revolution. This group often engages in paramilitary training.

The size and influence of the group are not well documented, but it is implied they can mobilize and engage in violent actions. They have been involved in harmful actions such as the Bundy Ranch standoff and plots to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

Co-founded by David Clayton, the National Constitutional Coalition of Patriotic Americans is a combination of various Patriot Groups across the country. The organization has been a relentless supporter of gun rights in the U.S. The group was responsible for organizing rallies in 45 states in support of gun rights in the wake of the shooting at the Parkland, Florida, high school in 2018.

The SPLC categorizes the group as part of the antidemocratic hard-right movement, and many who attend NCCPA rallies are also involved in other anti-government extremist groups and militias, including some who have participated in anti-Muslim activity.

Another anti-government group espousing hard-right ideologies, the Faith & Freedom Coalition (also known as Freedom Coalition), hosts the Road to Majority Policy Conference, described as the largest public policy gathering of conservative and Christian activists in the nation, which suggests a large size and significant influence.

The Faith & Freedom Coalition is an organization made up of conservative and Christian activists. It hosts an annual policy conference in Washington, D.C., featuring notable speakers. However, the provided context doesn’t furnish any specific examples of harmful actions taken by the coalition.

The mission of Mass Resistance is to fight against the normalization of LGBTQ identities. It has been influential in various U.S. states and internationally, exerting pressure against LGBTQ events, and aiding in blocking the repeal of anti-LGBTQ laws. They have faced criticism for actions such as pressuring Oxford University to remove Pride flags and aiding a Missouri city in passing an ordinance excluding children from drag queen events.

Founder Brian Camenker is known for disseminating false and discredited claims linking homosexuality to pedophilia. He has asserted that suicide prevention and anti-bullying programs for gay youth aim to lure children into homosexuality and sadomasochism, and also that gays are trying to make bestiality legal in Massachusetts.

The anti-government faith-based organization Institute on the Constitution urges Americans to read and comprehend the U.S. Constitution and teach it to others. Michael Peroutka, a former board member of the neo-Confederate League of the South, co-founded the group. He ran for president as the Constitution Party’s candidate in 2004 and won in 2022 the Republican nomination to be Maryland’s next attorney general.

According to the SPLC, the Institute on the Constitution, also known as American View, has seven chapters across the U.S.: Lewes, Delaware; Caroline County, Maryland; Nebraska, New Hampshire; Ohio; Cookeville, Tennessee; and Pasadena, Maryland.

People’s Rights, a network built by anti-government militant Ammon Bundy, aims to use governmental power to protect the “righteous” against groups like liberals, Antifa, and Black Lives Matter activists. The group has engaged in aggressive non-compliance with COVID-19 health directives and organized protests, including one outside the home of a police officer who arrested an anti-vaxxer activist.

The white supremacist group League of the South (LoS) advocates for Southern secession and an independent, white-dominated South. It was founded in 1994 and has grown to be one of the most active white supremacist groups in the U.S. The LoS is also part of the Nationalist Front, an umbrella organization consisting of neo-Nazis and traditional white supremacists. It has hosted white supremacist rallies and was involved in criminal activities such as the beating of DeAndre Harris and carrying concealed weapons at the “Unite the Right” rally.

The neo-Nazi group National Socialist Movement was once one of the largest and most active in the United States, with a mission to fight for the civil rights and self-determination of whites in America. The NSM promotes violent antisemitic rhetoric and racist views. In addition to the group’s involvement in the fatal 2017 “Unite the Right” rally, it was involved in a scheme to build a white ethnostate in Leith, North Dakota, where NSM members exhibited threatening behavior towards residents.

The far-right pro-Trump non-profit Moms for America, formerly HomeMakers for America, has been involved in rallies denying the legitimacy of the 2020 election and protests against school mask mandates during the pandemic. The group’s founder and president, Kimberly Fletcher is known to have spread false xenophobic claims about the rape of a six-year-old girl by 30 men along the Mexican border. Fletcher was also present at the January 6 rally and praised those who invaded the capital.

One of the many neo-Nazi groups in the United States is the Folks Front/Folkish Resistance Movement which uses Nazi symbology and believes that the Aryan world is under attack by migrants, spouting theories similar to the Great Replacement Theory. The group’s beliefs incorporate antisemitism (including Holocaust denial), racism, and homophobia. FRM is strikingly similar to a now-disbanded hate group called Volksfront, whose members have been involved in violent hate crimes.

Founded in 2009 by Stewart Rhodes, the Oath Keepers is one of the largest far-right anti-government groups in the U.S. The group recruits military members, first responders, and police officers into vigilante networks, operating to protect the country from threats that are largely unfounded conspiracy theories like mass voter fraud.

In November 2022, Rhodes and fellow group member Kelly Meggs were found guilty of seditious conspiracy and sentenced to 18 years in prison for their involvement in the Jan. 6 riot in the U.S. Capitol. Oath Keepers have been involved in multiple armed standoffs with federal officials and are known to provide security at racist and white supremacist rallies.

Parents’ Rights in Education is a far-right group established in Oregon in 2011 that has expanded into other states. The group has railed against what it considers the “destructive politicization of our education system.” It rejects protections for transgender students as well as general gender and sexuality education, promotes book banning, and opposes critical race theory.

The anti-Muslim group ACT! for America spreads Islamophobia under the guise of highlighting national security issues. The group pushes anti-Muslim conspiracy theories including the idea that Muslim radicals have infiltrated every level of the American government including the CIA. Founder Brigitte Gabriel has quoted that any practicing Muslim “cannot be a loyal citizen,” and frequently spouts anti-immigration rhetoric.

The John Birch Society is a far-right anti-government group founded in 1958 that claims America’s moral decline is caused by things such as feminism, homosexuality, environmentalism, and birth control. Early on, the group opposed civil rights and spread antisemitic ideas. The group is also known for pushing conspiracy theories including the war on Christmas and the idea that liberal collectivism will lead to a worldwide Communist government.

What began as a platform to showcase “patriot journalists,” We Are Change has become an anti-government patriot group that promotes dozens of conspiracy theories dating back to 9/11 and including fears of an impending One World Order or New World Order. LA chapter leader Bruno Bruhwiler is also a member of the Oath Keepers and has connections to the sovereign citizens movement, which believes the U.S. government’s laws do not apply.

Founded by Phyllis Schlafly in 1972, Eagle Forum is a far-right political interest group that targets just about everything and everyone. There have been several groups that function within the main faction – the non-profit Eagle Forum Education and Legal Defense Fund and the Eagle Forum PAC – although due to discord within the main group, the Eagle Forum was split in two separate groups. This conservative group claims to be pro-family; they have a multitude of far-right conspiracies that target everyone from immigrants, muslims and feminists (Schlafly lobbied to stop the Equal Rights Amendment).

The Asatru Folk Assembly (AFA) is the largest neo-Völkisch group in the U.S. Neo-Völkisch movements attempt to revive the original racist, nationalistic German Völkisch movement, one of the philosophical underpinnings of Nazism. Adherents base their beliefs on the perceived superiority of those descended from white Europeans and the need to preserve white identity and culture. The group’s leader has propagated a false narrative of white Europeans as victims of genocide.

The SPLC classifies The American State Assembly as part of the sovereign citizens movement, which originated in the U.S. in the 1970s. The anti-government group appears to be a loosely-knit organization of legal professionals, anti-government activists, tax protesters, financial scammers, and conspiracy theorists.

The group’s website encourages visitors to complete a “Status Correction,” which is claimed to convert one’s status from U.S. citizen to “American State National” — supposedly not a citizen of the U.S. and therefore not required to follow any of its laws. Like the sovereign citizen movement more broadly, The American State Assembly advocates for legal action based largely on misinterpretations of common law. The “sovereign citizen” legal defense strategy has no basis in law and has not succeeded when attempted in any court.

Created by conservative activist and firebrand Howard Phillips, the Constitution Party tries to put candidates on the ballot who are anti-government and anti-tax. The group has called for outlawing abortion even in cases of rape or incest, halting all immigration, and pulling out of the United Nations. They have also called for toppling every constitutional amendment passed since 1913 — including passage of the federal income tax and the right of women to vote. Of the 28 states the group operates in, it appears to have the largest presence in Missouri, with chapters in Piedmont, Cole County, and Pulaski County.

Patriot Front is a white supremacist group headed by Thomas Rousseau out of Texas that promotes white nationalism with aims to make the U.S. a white ethnostate. Patriot Front claims that people of color are not real Americans and pushes the great replacement theory. They’ve targeted Jewish institutions, LGBTQ events, and people of color, regularly engaging in vandalism and acts of public violence and intimidation. This hate group is one of several on this list with a presence in nearly every state in the country.

U.S. Parents Involved in Education seeks to gain power through school board elections to gut public education, ban books, and take control over curricula that contains discussions of race, gender, sex, and sexual orientation. The group’s founder, Sheri Few, uses anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and has condemned the removal of Confederate flags from state grounds in South Carolina.

This far-right, male-only group promoting political violence holds anti-immigrant, anti-feminist, and anti-Muslim ideologies, among others. The Proud Boys membership spiked when in 2020, then-President Donald Trump mentioned the Proud Boys in a presidential debate. The organization was among the most prominent participants in the Jan 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Their involvement in violent incidents such as the assault of a counter-protester in Berkeley in 2017 and a riot in Portland in 2018 has also been documented.

Moms for Liberty was founded in 2021 by former Florida school board members Tiffany Justice and Tina Descovich. The group opposes LGBTQ and racially inclusive school curricula and advocates banning certain books. In its efforts to combat “woke indoctrination” Moms for Liberty commonly propagates conspiracy theories about public schools and other extremist views. The group also wants to eliminate the Department of Education and reject public health regulations for COVID-19.