Monthly regional updates
Update
United States and Canada Overview: April 2025
March 2025 overview: US-Canada demos, pro-Palestine events, and Patriot Front's rise.
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
- Canada - 138 demonstration events
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.”2 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.3 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.4 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.
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.5 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.
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Methodology
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:
Regional Special Projects
For additional resources and in-depth coverage of demonstration and political violence trends across the US, check our dedicated US Crisis Monitor.
