President Donald Trump warned on Tuesday that his administration will halt federal funding to colleges permitting “illegal protests” and will deport foreign students who participate.
“All Federal Funding will STOP for any College, School, or University that allows illegal protests,” Trump wrote in a post 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 did not elaborate on what would classify a protest as illegal, aside from stating that protesters should not wear masks.
This announcement follows the Trump administration’s directive to federal agencies to review financial ties with Columbia University in New York City. Officials are considering cutting tens of millions of dollars in grants and contracts due to the university’s alleged failure to address anti-Semitism following the October 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attack on Israel.
U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., one of the administrators tasked with reviewing Columbia University’s grants, stated, “Anti-Semitism … is a spiritual and moral malady that sickens societies and kills people with lethalities comparable to history’s most deadly plagues.” He added, “Making America healthy means building communities of trust and mutual respect, based on speech freedom and open debate.”
In response, Columbia University affirmed its commitment to combating anti-Semitism on campus and stated it is reviewing the Trump administration’s remarks. “We look forward to ongoing work with the new federal administration to fight anti-Semitism, and we will continue to make all efforts to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our students, faculty, and staff,” the university said.
Columbia University has been a focal point for numerous anti-Israel demonstrations since the Hamas attacks. Last spring, students camped on school property and even occupied a building. A group involved in organizing the protests, Columbia University Apartheid Divest, reported that a third student involved in the protests was expelled, potentially linked to a Department of Justice announcement about investigating 10 universities, including Columbia, for “incidents of anti-Semitism.”
Days before Trump’s post, pro-Palestinian protesters at Barnard College, an affiliate of Columbia University, injured an employee who was later hospitalized while attempting to enter a building.
In January, the White House indicated that the administration could deport “resident aliens who joined in the pro-jihadist protests” at colleges following the October 2023 terrorist attack in Israel if they continued such activities. Trump also stated, “I will also quickly cancel the student visas of all Hamas sympathizers on college campuses, which have been infested with radicalism like never before.”
During the final months of Trump’s first administration in 2020, cities and colleges across the U.S. experienced months of Black Lives Matter protests and riots following the death of George Floyd.
