Democracy Under Attack: 10 Major Assaults on Civil Rights in 2025

WASHINGTON, D.C. — As reported by The Wren Collective, 2025 marked an intensification of policies and practices that, taken together, further eroded democracy and civil rights in the United States. In its final newsletter of the year, the group outlined what it described as the 10 most significant attacks on democratic norms under the current U.S. administration.

“I wish we had been wrong,” The Wren Collective said in its end-of-year review. In December 2024, the group wrote, “One thing is clear: in the years to come, we will see a lot of horrible things happen. We will see our undocumented friends deported, political prosecutions increase, and surveillance over dissenters grow at an alarming pace.” According to the organization, “the sheer speed at which our news cycle moves” has become one of the central challenges of remaining informed and engaged in 2025.

In response, the group said, “In no particular order, we present to you Wren’s 2025 Top Ten Attacks on Democracy.”

As reported by The Wren Collective, the first among these actions was a mass deportation campaign that involved the detention of immigrants, often in public spaces, many of whom were described as either noncriminals or people who had never been convicted of a crime. The group also cited the use of violent enforcement tactics, including pepperball projectiles and tear gas.

The organization reported that toddlers with cancer, U.S. citizens, and elderly relatives attempted to physically intervene during some of these encounters and were themselves detained and deported.

The Wren Collective further cited a renewed embrace of capital punishment. According to the organization, the federal government actively sought the imposition of the death penalty following a period of decline in its use. The group reported that Florida carried out more executions in 2025 than Texas.

The dismantling of civil rights enforcement also accelerated during the year, according to The Wren Collective. The organization reported that “the DOJ has largely closed shop as a vehicle of civil rights enforcement,” resulting in what it described as “an exodus of competent lawyers and the end of the federal commitment to racial equity.” The group also noted that the Department of Justice announced it would “no longer pursue civil rights litigation based on the disparate impact theory of the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause,” which it said had been “a key lever to expose the most covert forms of racism.”

The organization pointed to the federal deployment of National Guard troops in cities that were experiencing declines in violent crime, including Washington, D.C., Los Angeles and Chicago. According to The Wren Collective, these deployments amounted to “a performative show of force, rather than a meaningful investment in resources to prevent or investigate violent crime.”

Academic freedom was also under pressure, the group reported, as universities that resisted political demands faced funding cuts. According to The Wren Collective, these actions undermined U.S. leadership in medical and scientific research.

Members of the press were similarly affected. The group reported that journalists who failed to align with administration expectations were expelled from the White House press corps, while the appearance of a so-called “naughty list” of reporters symbolized what it described as an affront to the First Amendment.

Access to health care narrowed substantially in 2025, according to The Wren Collective. The group cited increased restrictions on reproductive health care that affected patients across state lines, as well as threats of cuts to Medicaid that would impact more than 2 million women of childbearing age. The organization also reported attacks on health care for transgender people, including the loss of federal funding for facilities providing such care and the issuance of executive orders affecting the LGBTQ+ community.

The Wren Collective said cultural figures were not spared. Entertainment personalities who spoke out against the government were regularly targeted, the group reported, and official responses to the deaths of prominent cultural figures who had criticized the administration demonstrated what it characterized as a lack of restraint.

Despite these developments, The Wren Collective emphasized that resistance persisted. “Everyday people are fighting back against the billion-dollar deportation behemoth in ways big and small,” the group said, including “mapping out raid locations,” “creating safe passages for their neighbors,” and “memorializing kidnappings with handcrafted signs.”

The organization also noted that “individual journalists — particularly freelancers and reporters from independent and nonprofit newsrooms — are braving arrest, physical violence, and even deportation to tell the truth,” while artists and comedians “are urging us to mock, not fear, these dangers.”

Legal challenges were another central element of opposition, according to The Wren Collective. The group highlighted the work of nonprofit attorneys, solo practitioners, public defenders and civil rights organizations that took on cases others declined, challenging unlawful government actions through the courts.

The Wren Collective stated that “most Americans do not support the Administration’s agenda of dismantling civil and political rights; cruel and craven policies and rhetoric; and the expansion of the police state.” The organization also warned that “the political and policy landscape is likely to get worse before it gets better.”

As 2025 draws to a close, The Wren Collective reaffirmed its commitment to defending democracy, accountability and human dignity in the year ahead.

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