Trump threatens federal funds for schools that allow "illegal protests"
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UCI Divest and pro-Palestine students hold a walkout and protest at UC Irvine in Irvine on May 22, 2024. Photo: Leonard Ortiz/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty Images
President Trump wrote that "all federal funding will STOP" for schools or universities that allow "illegal protests" in a social media post Tuesday.
The big picture: While Trump did not specifically mention pro-Palestinian protesters Tuesday, he has previously said his administration will deport student "aliens" who joined "pro-jihadist" demonstrations and revoke visas for "Hamas sympathizers."
- "Agitators will be imprisoned/or permanently sent back to the country from which they came," the president's Tuesday Truth Social post read.
- Trump also took aim at American students protesters, who he said will be "permanently expelled" or arrested, "depending on the crime."
- "NO MASKS!" he added.
Reality check: College campuses have long served as arenas for protests, especially anti-war demonstrations.
- The First Amendment's freedom of speech and assembly provisions allow for protests in certain public spaces.
- Protests can be limited through reasonable "time, place, and manner" restrictions — though they must be content-neutral and apply regardless of viewpoint, according to the ACLU.
- Trump in his post didn't identify any law or federal power that would allow him to target the protesters.
Zoom out: Trump in January signed an executive order titled "Additional Measures to Combat Anti-Semitism" that called for the removal of international students who joined protests.
- It additionally called for officials to make recommendations to higher education institutions to find grounds to "monitor for and report activities by alien students and staff."
- The order's accompanying fact sheet said the Justice Department would take "immediate action" to "protect law and order, quell pro-Hamas vandalism and intimidation, and investigate and punish anti-Jewish racism in leftist, anti-American colleges and universities."
The administration announced Monday that its Task Force to Combat Antisemitism was considering halting over $51 million in contracts with Columbia University. Student protestors had occupied buildings on campus during their demonstration.
- Last month, the Department of Education launched investigations into five higher education institutions "where widespread antisemitic harassment has been reported."
Flashback: Protests over the treatment of Palestinians in Gaza amid the Israel-Hamas war erupted across college campuses last spring, leaving some Jewish students feeling unsafe.
- However, some Jewish students joined ceasefire demonstrations, including at Columbia University where Jewish students held a Passover Seder.
- While there were clashes with police on some campuses, the protests were largely peaceful.
Go deeper: How free speech on college campuses is being challenged
