As federal agents raid anti-ICE protesters and a voting rights group and the administration targets critics, CIVICUS warns of an increasing assault on US civic space.
Johannesburg, 19 June 2026 — CIVICUS, the global civil society alliance, is alarmed by the growing number and rapid pace of assaults by the United States government targeting civil society and activists.
This week, federal agents arrested 12 people from Direct Action Minnesota who protested against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. They and three others have been accused of conspiring to impede the Trump administration's Operation Metro Surge targeting Minnesota’s Latino, Somali and Southeast Asian communities. The largest operation in the history of the Department of Homeland Security has reported 4,000 arrests by federal agents, often wearing masks and travelling in unmarked SUVs.
Some of the protesters were conditionally released by courts without bail. They face conspiracy charges of impeding or injuring federal agents, which could result in imprisonment of up to six years. Attacks against protesters and inflated charges are a gross violation of civic freedoms.
On 12 June, FBI agents reportedly raided the offices of the Ohio Organizing Collaborative, a group that works to register voters, particularly young people and voters of colour. Coming weeks before an election, the raid risks intimidating community organisers and may have a chilling effect on constitutionally protected voter registration work. Voter registration is not fraud, and law enforcement must not be deployed to suppress it.
"When a government raids voter registration groups, arrests protesters in masks and unmarked vehicles, prosecutes the civil rights organisations that hold it to account, and draws up lists of nonprofits by their cause, these are not isolated incidents. They are the architecture of a closing civic space," said Mandeep Tiwana, Secretary General of global civil society alliance CIVICUS. "We have seen this pattern in countries the world over, and previous US administrations have criticised other governments for exactly the same anti-people actions being carried out by the Trump Administration."
These actions do not stand alone. In April 2026, the Department of Justice indicted the Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil rights organisation that has challenged the administration in court and documented extremism for over five decades. Civil liberties groups across the political spectrum have described the prosecution as retaliatory, part of a broader effort to turn the machinery of the state against perceived opponents.
"These attacks are the latest in a concerted effort to weaponise executive authority to target nonprofits. Civil society organisations provide critical services, build communities, hold authorities accountable and uphold our fundamental freedoms - which is exactly why they are targeted by authoritarian regimes,” said Shivan Sarin, Managing Director, Charity & Security Network. “In the face of these growing attacks, nonprofits continue to respond collectively and work together to ensure resilience of the civic space."
The pressure is also bureaucratic. In May 2026, the White House Office of Management and Budget directed federal agencies to compile detailed spending data on dozens of organisations. These reportedly include groups working on civil rights, legal aid, immigration, LGBTQI+ rights and humanitarian relief. Demands of this kind, targeting organisations for their advocacy, risk laying the groundwork for funding cuts and further pressure. It sends a chilling message to the whole of civil society: government support is contingent on political alignment.
In December 2025, the CIVICUS Monitor downgraded the United States from a ‘narrowed’ to ‘obstructed' civic space rating. The downgrade reflected a surge in violations of the rights to free expression, peaceful assembly and association, including the militarised policing of protests, pressure on journalists and public broadcasters and the targeting of activists.
CIVICUS calls on the US government to halt the intimidation of civil society organisations and cease the use of law enforcement, prosecutorial and immigration powers to retaliate against critics. The authorities must uphold the rights to expression, association and peaceful assembly guaranteed by the US Constitution. We stand in solidarity with Direct Action Minnesota , Ohio Organizing Collaborative, the Southern Poverty Law Center and all those in the United States working to defend civic freedoms.
