President Donald Trump on Tuesday said "all federal funding" will be withheld from college campuses that allow "illegal protests."
Trump's Justice Department last month announced the formation a multi-agency task force to combat antisemitism, with its first priority being to root out antisemitic harassment in schools and on college campuses.
"All Federal Funding will STOP for any College, School, or University that allows illegal protests," Trump posted Tuesday on Truth Social. "Agitators will be imprisoned/or permanently sent back to the country from which they came. American students will be permanently expelled or, depending on the crime, arrested. NO MASKS! Thank you for your attention to this matter."
Trump in January signed an executive order instructing all federal agencies to identify civil and criminal authorities available to combat antisemitism. The order also instructs agencies to find ways to deport anti-Israel activists who violated laws.
Anti-Israel protesters appeared on campuses throughout the U.S. after Hamas' invasion and massacre in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and the ensuing war in Gaza.
Task force head Leo Terrell last week said federal hate-crime indictments against campus activists "supporting Hamas and trying to intimidate Jews" would soon be filed.
"You see all these disorderly demonstrations, supporting Hamas and trying to intimidate Jews? We are going to put these people in jail — not for 24 hours, but for years," Terrell, senior counsel to the assistant U.S. attorney general for civil rights, Jewish News Syndicate reported.
The presidential task force also announced visits to 10 universities to review protections for students and staff against antisemitic attacks.
Among the schools to be visited is New York City's Barnard College, where a group of masked pro-Palestinian protesters forced entry into an academic building on Wednesday and demanded the college reverse expulsions of two students involved in an earlier campus building protest.
The protesters dispersed, but only after "forcing" the administration to the "negotiating table," the group, Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine, posted on X on Thursday.
Barnard College is part of Columbia University's educational system.
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Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
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