by WorldTribune Staff, March 10, 2025 Real World News
President Donald Trump said he is taking on “terrorist sympathizers” who have terrorized American college campuses and the universities that are allowing antisemitism to fester.
Over the weekend, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detained and moved to deport Mahmoud Khalil, who the Trump Administration identified as a pro-Hamas agitator at Columbia University in New York.
Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin described Khalil as a former Columbia graduate student who “led activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization. ICE and the Department of State are committed to enforcing President Trump’s executive orders and to protecting U.S. national security.”
The president also pulled $400 million in federal grant funding to Columbia.
Trump wrote in a post to Truth Social:
“Following my previously signed Executive Orders, ICE proudly apprehended and detained Mahmoud Khalil, a Radical Foreign Pro-Hamas Student on the campus of Columbia University. This is the first arrest of many to come. We know there are more students at Columbia and other Universities across the Country who have engaged in pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity, and the Trump Administration will not tolerate it.
“Many are not students, they are paid agitators. We will find, apprehend, and deport these terrorist sympathizers from our country — never to return again. If you support terrorism, including the slaughtering of innocent men, women, and children, your presence is contrary to our national and foreign policy interests, and you are not welcome here. We expect every one of America’s Colleges and Universities to comply. Thank you!”
Leo Terrell, the Department of Justice senior counsel who leads the administration’s newly created Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism, said Monday the crackdown at Columbia “should serve as a deterrent.”
“The task force is sending a message: The Trump administration and [Attorney General] Pam Bondi will not tolerate antisemitism on college campuses,” Terrell told Fox News host Harris Faulkner.
Columbia Interim President Katrina Armstrong said in a statement: “I want to assure the entire Columbia community that we are committed to working with the federal government to address their legitimate concerns. To that end, Columbia can, and will, continue to take serious action toward combating antisemitism on our campus. This is our number one priority.”
Anti-Israel protests have been frequent at Columbia since Hamas’s massacre of more than 1,000 Israelis on Oct. 7, 2023.
In January, four activists crashed the first day of the History of Modern Israel class, passing out fliers with antisemitic images and refusing repeated requests to leave.
Two students from Barnard College, Columbia’s affiliated women’s college, were expelled over the incident. A third student was expelled last week in relation to the May 2024 takeover of Hamilton Hall.
Four Columbia students were arrested and suspended last week for taking part in a pro-Palestinian protest against the expulsions at Barnard’s Milstein Library, according to ABC7 in New York City.
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