Breaking: Trump Threatens to Imprison ‘Agitators’ and Pull Funding from Universities That Allow ‘Illegal Protests’

President Donald Trump on Tuesday threatened to imprison “agitators” taking part in “illegal protests” on college campuses, and in the case of foreign students, to deport them to their home countries.

Trump also vowed to pull federal funding from any educational institution that allows such “illegal” protests.

“All Federal Funding will STOP for any College, School, or University that allows illegal protests,” Trump posted on Truth Social early Tuesday morning. “Agitators will be imprisoned/or permanently sent back to the country from which they came. American students will be permanently expelled or, depending on on the crime, arrested. NO MASKS! Thank you for your attention to this matter.”

The announcement comes a day after the Trump administration threatened to pull $51.4 million in government contracts from Columbia University for failing to take disciplinary action against anti-Israel protests targeting Jewish students. The federal contracts will be reviewed by the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Education, and the General Services Administration.

"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," Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said on Monday.

Columbia received about $1.3 billion in federal grants in fiscal year 2024, or about 20 percent of the university’s operating budget, according to the student-run Columbia Daily Spectator.

Jewish advocates renewed their calls for the Trump administration to halt federal funding to Columbia and Barnard College after a Students for Justice in Palestine chapter organized an unauthorized protest in an academic building last week. Lasting several hours last Wednesday night, the demonstration prevented students from getting to their classes in Milbank Hall and left at least one employee injured.

Jewish students posted about the sit-in protest at Barnard on social media, saying it made them feel unsafe as security guards tried to rein in the protesters.

Columbia tried to distance itself from the protest, noting its sister college remained responsible for handling the incident.

"Columbia is not responsible for security on Barnard's campus," the statement reads. "The disruption that is taking place at Barnard's Milbank Hall is not on Columbia's campus, and Barnard's leadership and security team are addressing the current situation. We are committed to supporting our Columbia student body and our campus community during this challenging time."

Notably, Columbia suspended SJP in November 2023 after its members held unauthorized campus protests that made others feel threatened. The suspension was upheld by the New York state supreme court last fall, yet the group remains operational in practice.

Trump is following through on his executive order that instructed federal agencies to crack down on “pro-Hamas vandalism and intimidation,” as well as investigate and punish elite American universities that enable antisemitic acts. In line with that order, the Justice Department created a task force that will investigate rampant campus antisemitism since October 7, 2023. The task force recently said it would visit ten universities, including Columbia, to address the problem.

Additionally, the president authorized the deportation of Hamas sympathizers and revocation of student visas for those participating in anti-Israel protests.

"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 said. “I will also quickly cancel the student visas of all Hamas sympathizers on college campuses, which have been infested with radicalism like never before."