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A report from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Homeland Security revealed that the number of domestic violent extremism investigations doubled between 2020 and 2021.
According to ABC News, the two agencies were conducting 1,400 such investigations in 2020, but by the end of 2021, that number jumped to more than 2,700.
The report indicated a massive decline in the number of investigations involving racially or ethnically motivated violent extremism. In 2020, they accounted for 40% of the investigations, but in 2021, they comprised just 19%.
Meanwhile, the number of investigations classified as anti-government or anti-authority violent extremism saw a slight uptick from 37% in 2020 to 38% in 2021.
The agencies noted that the increase was due in part to the wide-ranging investigations involving people who participated in the riot at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.
As the number of investigations increased, so did the number of people who were arrested as part of domestic terrorism investigations. In 2020, the FBI arrested 180 individuals, but in 2021 that number skyrocketed to 800.
The report noted that while there are no federal domestic terrorism statutes, the FBI and DHS can still file other charges, including "those related to weapons, explosives, threats, attacks on federal officials or facilities, hate crimes, arson, violence against animal enterprises, and material support to terrorist."