Pro-Palestinian demonstrators at Columbia University.Photo:KENA BETANCUR/AFP via Getty
KENA BETANCUR/AFP via Getty
PresidentDonald Trumpis threatening to punish student protestors — and schools that allow “illegal” protests to unfold without repercussions.
On Tuesday, March 4, the politician said that he will expel and potentially imprison or deport students who participate in certain protests via a heated message onTruth Social.
“All Federal Funding will STOP for any College, School, or University that allows illegal protests,” Trump wrote on his social media website. “Agitators will be imprisoned/or permanently sent back to the country from which they came.”
He continued: “American students will be permanently expelled or, depending on the crime, arrested. NO MASKS! Thank you for your attention to this matter.”
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on March 3, 2025 in Washington, D.C.Samuel Corum/Sipa/Bloomberg via Getty
Samuel Corum/Sipa/Bloomberg via Getty
The threat follows a wave of pro-Palestine student protests — which the Trump Administration has previously criticized — amid the ongoing Israel-Gaza conflict.
In January, Trump signed anexecutive orderto “combat the explosion of anti-Semitism on our campuses and in our streets since October 7, 2023,” also known as the date thatHamaslaunched a deadly attack on Israel.
Trump vowed to “quickly cancel the student visas of all Hamas sympathizers on college campuses.”
Despite the accusations of violence,The Armed Conflict Location and Event Datareported in May 2024 that 97% of student demonstrations that occurred from Oct. 7, 2023, to May 3, 2024, were peaceful.
According to theAmerican Civil Liberties Union, “Police and government officials are allowed to place certain nondiscriminatory and narrowly drawn ‘time, place and manner’ restrictions on the exercise of First Amendment rights.”
However, the organization also notes, “Any such restrictions must apply to all speech regardless of its point of view.”
Pro-Palestinian student protesters demonstrate outside Barnard College.TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty
TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty
“Given Columbia’s ongoing inaction in the face of relentless harassment of Jewish students, the Federal Government’s Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism is considering Stop Work Orders for $51.4 million in contracts between Columbia University and the Federal Government,” a joint press release read.
“The task force will also conduct a comprehensive review of the more than $5 billion in federal grant commitments to Columbia University to ensure the university is in compliance with federal regulations, including its civil rights responsibilities.”
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HHS SecretaryRobert F. Kennedy Jr.said in astatement: “Anti-Semitism — like racism — is a spiritual and moral malady that sickens societies and kills people with lethalities comparable to history’s most deadly plagues.”
He continued, “In recent years, the censorship and false narratives of woke cancel culture have transformed our great universities into greenhouses for this deadly and virulent pestilence. Making America healthy means building communities of trust and mutual respect, based on speech freedom and open debate.”
source: people.com
