Trump announces major crackdown on pro-Hamas college demonstrations

Trump says his administration will freeze all federal funding for colleges thath permit illegal protests, demands schools expel student protesters while foreign nationals illegally protesting will be deported or imprisoned.

By World Israel News Staff

President Donald Trump announced plans by his administration to crack down on the wave of illegal demonstrations held on college campuses across the country in support of the Hamas terror organization.

Taking to the Truth Social social media platform on Tuesday, the president warned that the federal government will suspend all funding for educational institutions that do not enforce the law against illegal protests on campus.

“All Federal Funding will STOP for any College, School, or University that allows illegal protests,” Trump wrote.

In addition, Trump warned that American students engaging in illegal protests will either be expelled from school or face criminal prosecution.

Furthermore, foreign nationals studying at American colleges who are found to be participating in illegal protests on campus will be subject to deportation.

“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,” he vowed.

Anti-Israel and pro-Hamas protests roiled college campuses across the U.S. after the Gaza invasion of Israel on October 7, 2023, and continued through 2024. The protests resumed on a smaller scale in early 2025, including clashes at Barnard College.

Illegal protest encampments on college campuses in 2023 and 2024 became the focus of widespread criticism, along with a congressional probe, among allegations of antisemitism and discrimination, including numerous instances of harassment of Jewish students and physical assault.

Some Jewish students claimed campus protesters barred them from passing through the encampments on the way to class.

After taking office in January, Trump signed an executive order instructing the Justice Department to prosecute student protesters for “terroristic threats, arson, vandalism, and violence against American Jews.”

Under the order, federal authorities are mandated to actively seek out and deport non-citizen campus protesters involved in pro-Hamas demonstrations.

“To all the resident aliens who joined in the pro-jihadist protests, we put you on notice: come 2025, we will find you, and we will deport you,” Trump wrote in a fact sheet released with the order.