Anti-government extremist organizations in the U.S. surged last year, even as some militias disbanded and hate groups declined, according to a new report released Tuesday by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

The SPLC counted 702 anti-government groups in 2022, a 44% increase from 488 in 2021. This was the highest number since 2015.

The surge was primarily driven by the designation of the conservative parents' rights group Moms for Liberty and 11 other 'anti-student inclusion groups,' according to Travis McAdam, senior research analyst with SPLC's Intelligence Project.

'Their number of chapters grew quickly as they targeted local schools with campaigns of malice and misinformation that degrade the LGBTQ+ community and try to erase the teaching of accurate history,' McAdam said via email.

On its website, Moms for Liberty says it is 'dedicated to fighting for the survival of America by unifying, educating and empowering parents to defend their parental rights at all levels of government.'

Asked about the SPLC designation, Moms for Liberty co-founders Tiffany Justice and Tina Descovich said in a statement emailed to VOA, 'Name-calling parents who want to be a part of their child's education as 'hate groups' or 'bigoted' just further exposes what this battle is all about: Who fundamentally gets to decide what is taught to our kids in school - parents or government employees? We believe that parental rights do not stop at the classroom door, and no amount of hate from groups like this is going to stop that.'

The surge in the number of anti-government groups came even as militias - the 'paramilitary wing of the anti-government movement' as the SPLC refers to them - shrank in number in the wake of the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. The SPLC identified 61 active militia groups in 2022, down from 92 in 2021.

One of the most prominent anti-government militias, the Oath Keepers, lost many of its local chapters after its leaders were arrested in connection with the January 6 assault.

Last month, Stewart Rhodes, the group's founder, and a former top lieutenant received 18- and 12-year prison terms respectively for their roles in the attack. Several other Oath Keepers have also been given lengthy prison terms.

The SPLC said the number of Oath Keepers chapters dropped to five in 2022, down from 70 in 2020.

Rachel Rivas, deputy director of research, reporting and analysis at SPLC's Intelligence Project, attributed the surge in anti-government groups in part to backlash in the anti-government movement against the Biden administration's policies.

'This is a trend we've seen over time during the Obama years,' Rivas said.

Driven by distrust

Before last year, anti-government groups had been declining since reaching a record 1,360 in 2012 during President Barack Obama's first term in office.

But experts say the groups are driven by a deep distrust of government and seize on issues such as election denial and so-called woke indoctrination in workplaces and schools to draw fuel for their agenda.

Brian Levin, executive director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino, said the SPLC report's most 'disturbing finding' was the 'continued vibrancy of antigovernment groups.'

'In a highly charged and politically divided atmosphere, anti-government vitriol and conspiracies are an easier initial 'gateway' sell than the more blatant xenophobic and racist propaganda of adjacent extremists,' Levin said.

Hate groups go mainstream

The number of hate groups dropped to 523 last year from 733 in 2021. The number has fallen significantly since peaking at more than 1,000 in 2018.

But SPLC officials said this does not mean there was a decrease in hate and extremism.

The line between hard-right extremism and mainstream politics has become increasingly blurred, they said, as hate groups have gone mainstream in a post-January 6 shift in strategy.

'Main Street America is now seeing organizing locally to pursue a hateful agenda in public view, including the targeting of community safe havens like schools and houses of worship,' Margaret Huang, president and CEO of SPLC, said during a press call.

The SPLC defines a hate group as an organization or collection of individuals that 'attack or malign' a whole category of people usually for things they cannot change such as their race or gender.

The SPLC has been publishing its annual hate report since 1990.

In recent years, some conservative groups have criticized the SPLC, saying it unfairly labeled them as extremist groups.

Huang defended SPLC's 'rigorous' research methodology, saying the group 'carefully labels an organization or a group of individuals, as either a hate group or an anti-government extremist group, based on specific criteria and clear evidence of action during the calendar year of 2022.'