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‘Craven Attempt to Silence Dissent’: Trump DOJ Slammed for Indictment of Anti-Hate Group
"Another example of the dangerous, overreaching abuse of executive power so endemic in this authoritarian administration."
Apr 22, 2026
The civil rights and progressive advocacy community is rallying to the defense of the Southern Poverty Law Center after President Donald Trump's Justice Department indicted the organization on Tuesday on multiple counts of wire fraud and other charges, which the group has condemned as false and politically motivated.
The Justice Department, led by Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche—who previously served as Trump's personal attorney—said Tuesday that a grand jury in Montgomery, Alabama returned an indictment charging SPLC with "11 counts of wire fraud, false statements to a federally insured bank, and conspiracy to commit concealment money laundering." The Justice Department accused SPLC, which specializes in monitoring extremist groups and movements, of "funding" far-right white supremacist organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan by paying people to infiltrate them and gather information.
Bryan Fair, SPLC's interim chief executive, said the Trump DOJ's "false allegations" won't "shake our resolve to fight for justice and ensure the promise of the civil rights movement becomes a reality for all." Fair noted that SPLC no longer works with paid informants but emphasized that they "risked their lives to infiltrate and inform on the activities of our nation’s most radical and violent extremist groups."
Allied civil rights organizations spoke out in defense of the SPLC and warned that the Trump administration's legal assault on the group is part of a broader attack on those who oppose the far-right and work to protect democracy.
“What is happening to civil rights organizations right now is the most coordinated assault on our sector since COINTELPRO," Maya Wiley, president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. "We are the people who train poll workers, run food banks, fight discrimination, protect the right to protest, and staff domestic violence hotlines. We are the ones who make sure that everyone can live, love, vote, work, study, travel and simply be themselves, free from discrimination. This administration views that as a threat to its power."
"In order to have absolute power, it must dismantle our rights," Wiley added. "And that’s why they’re coming after us."
"We condemn this appalling move from a captured, weak-willed DOJ that is devoid of integrity and has lost sight of its mission under this administration."
Lisa Gilbert, co-president of the consumer watchdog group Public Citizen, called the SPLC indictment "another example of the dangerous, overreaching abuse of executive power so endemic in this authoritarian administration."
“This is a craven attempt to silence dissent by attacking a core civil rights organization focused on combating violent extremism," said Gilbert. "We condemn this appalling move from a captured, weak-willed DOJ that is devoid of integrity and has lost sight of its mission under this administration. We stand in solidarity with SPLC."
SPLC has repeatedly criticized Trump, members of his two administrations, people in his orbit, and extremist groups—such as the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers—that have supported the president's efforts to subvert American democracy, including with violence on January 6, 2021.
"To be clear: Trump’s FBI is going after the Southern Poverty Law Center because they infiltrated and exposed the same dangerous right-wing extremist groups that many Trump allies are associated with," activist Melanie D'Arrigo said in response to the indictment.
Anthony Romero, executive director of the ACLU, said in a statement that the Trump administration's "continued weaponization of the Justice Department to target organizations speaking out against its agenda is anti-American behavior harkening back to the McCarthy era."
“The Trump administration’s attack against the Southern Poverty Law Center is a direct threat to the values that make America great," said Romero. "In this time of unprecedented peril for our democracy, we urge all Americans of good conscience to join us as we stand in support of the Southern Poverty Law Center."
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Virginia Voters Deal Major Blow to Trump-GOP Ploy to 'Steal the 2026 Midterms'
"Virginia voters have spoken, and tonight they pushed back against a president who claims he is ‘entitled’ to more Republican seats in Congress," said Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger.
Apr 22, 2026
Virginia voters on Tuesday approved a referendum that's likely to give Democrats four additional seats in the US House of Representatives in the upcoming midterm elections, a key victory in a gerrymandering war launched last year by President Donald Trump and the Republican Party.
"Virginia voters have spoken, and tonight they pushed back against a president who claims he is ‘entitled’ to more Republican seats in Congress," Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger, a Democrat, said following Tuesday's vote. "As we watched other states go along with those demands without voter input, Virginians refused to let that stand. We responded the right way: at the ballot box."
The ballot measure, which was approved by a margin of fewer than 100,000 votes, allows the Virginia constitution to be "amended to allow the General Assembly to temporarily adopt new congressional districts to restore fairness in the upcoming elections, while ensuring Virginia's standard redistricting process resumes for all future redistricting after the 2030 census."
The new congressional map that Virginia lawmakers approved earlier this year—prior to putting the ballot question before voters—would aggressively redraw the state's district lines to give Democrats eight safe districts. Two other districts would be competitive but Democratic-leaning, leaving Republicans with just one favorable district. Common Cause Virginia, an advocacy group that does not favor partisan gerrymandering, called the new Virginia maps "a proportionate response" to GOP redistricting in other states, including Texas.
Eric Holder, the former US attorney general and chairman of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, said in response to Tuesday's result that "the mere existence of this special election stands in stark contrast to the gerrymanders forced on constituents in Texas, Missouri, and North Carolina and shows that voters are tired of Republican attempts to silence their power at the voting booth."
“Virginians’ courageous action today will have an impact far beyond the commonwealth. They didn’t just win an election—they have stopped Donald Trump’s attempt to steal the 2026 midterms in its tracks and defended the principle that elections should be fair, competitive, and decided by the people," said Holder. "Let this be a message to MAGA Republicans and the White House: enough is enough."
Democratic congressional leaders also applauded the outcome of the closely watched Virginia referendum. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said in a statement that "Virginians spoke with a crystal-clear voice, voting to stop the MAGA power grab and protect the integrity of free and fair elections."
But Jeffries stressed that "this war is not over," pointing to ongoing Republican efforts to redraw Florida's congressional maps.
“If Florida Republicans proceed with this illegal scheme, they will only create more prime pick-up opportunities for Democrats, just as they did with Trump’s dummymander in Texas," said Jeffries. "We will aggressively target for defeat Mario Díaz-Balart, Maria Elvira Salazar, Carlos Giménez, Kat Cammack, Anna Paulina Luna, Laurel Lee, Cory Mills, and Brian Mast. We are prepared to take them all on, and we are prepared to win."
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) responded enthusiastically to Jeffries' statement.
"Hell yes," she wrote on social media. "This is the energy."
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Senate GOP Blasted for Trying to Give Trump's ICE and Border Patrol Another $140 Billion
"They want to give $140 billion for ICE and Border Patrol without reforms, but $0 to lower Americans’ costs," said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.
Apr 21, 2026
Congressional Democrats and advocacy groups on Tuesday slammed Senate Republicans' proposed budget resolution, which authorizes up to $140 billion in new deficit spending for Department of Homeland Security agencies responsible for President Donald Trump's deadly immigration crackdown.
Senate Budget Committee Chair Lindsey Graham (R-SC) introduced the fiscal year 2026 budget resolution, which the senator's office described as "the blueprint that unlocks the pathway for a targeted reconciliation bill that will provide funding for US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and US Customs and Border Protection (CBP)" for at least the remainder of Trump's term.
"The resolution includes reconciliation instructions allowing for up to $70 billion of deficit increases each for the Judiciary and Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committees," explained the advocacy group Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.
ICE is already flush with a $75 billion funding boost thanks to Republicans' so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which Trump signed last July 4.
“The threats to our homeland from radical Islam are only getting more intense," Graham said, despite there being no significant attack by such forces on US soil in a decade. "Now is not the time to defund Border Patrol, and now is certainly not the time to put ICE out of business."
"These men and women have been dealing with the consequences of the over 11 million illegal immigrants that came to the United States during the Biden administration," the senator added.
There is no evidence that anywhere near that number of undocumented migrants entered the US during former President Joe Biden's tenure.
Responding to Graham's proposal, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said: "Earlier today, we caught our first glimpse of the Senate Republicans’ budget resolution. Forget being on the same page, Republicans aren’t even on the same planet as the American people."
"They want to give $140 billion for ICE and Border Patrol without reforms, but $0 to lower Americans’ costs," he continued. "Let me say that again: $140 billion for ICE and Border Patrol—no reforms, no accountability, no strings attached; $0 to lower Americans’ costs."
"That’s their priority. That’s why they are dragging the Senate through the arduous, convoluted reconciliation process: to put money in the coffers of Trump’s rogue agencies, rather than in Americans’ pockets," Schumer said.
"Democrats want to lower Americans’ grocery, gas, healthcare, and housing costs. Senate Republicans want to appease Donald Trump... by giving ICE and Border Patrol tens of billions of dollars to continue spreading violence in our streets," he added.
Center for American Progress (CAP) senior director of federal budget policy Bobby Kogan called the GOP budget proposal "a missed opportunity to help Americans."
"In addition to doing nothing to rein in DHS, many civil and human rights abuses, congressional Republicans’ reconciliation plan misses an opportunity to do affirmative good for struggling households," he said.
Kogan continued:
While there was broad agreement in Congress on the funding levels for the agencies within DHS itself, congressional Democratic leadership asked for a handful of reforms to try to prevent more killings of citizens and noncitizens and avoid another wave of other civil rights violations from being undertaken by the department. Congressional Republican leadership has rejected calls for legislative reforms to ICE and Border Patrol operations and is now instead using this process to provide funding with no oversight.
The Republican proposal comes as immigrant deaths in ICE custody have soared, with at least 17 people dying since January. DHS officers have also killed two US citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, during the Operation Metro Surge blitz in Minneapolis.
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