Trump Threatens US College Students With Arrests, Expulsions Over 'Illegal' Protests On Campus

President Donald Trump threatened local and foreign college students engaging in what he described as "illegal protests" with harsh consequences should they continue their demonstrations. He also said institutions allowing for them to take place will face economic consequences.

In a publication on his social media platform, Truth Social, Trump said that any "College, School or University that allows illegal process" will see a halting of all federal funding. Moreover, "Agitators will be imprisoned/or permanently sent back to the country from which they came" and "American students will be permanently expelled or, depending on on the crime, arrested." "NO MASKS!" Trump's message ends.

Trump, and Republicans in general, have been highly critical of the protests that erupted in college campuses across the country over the past year, especially since the beginning of the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. Most of the protests have been highly critical of the way Israel is prosecuting the war.

Columbia University, an institution where some of the most visible protests have taken place, is already facing a review of federal grants and contracts over allegations that it failed to address antisemitism during campus protests.

Concretely, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Education and the General Services Administration, said that they will review federal grant commitments totaling some $5 billion. They will also consider a stop-work order on some $51 million in federal contracts.

"Columbia's apparent failure to uphold their end of this basic agreement raises very serious questions about the institution's fitness to continue doing business with the United States government," said newly-confirmed Education Secretary Linda McMahon in a statement announcing the review.

Columbia, on its end, said it is looking forward to "ongoing work with the new federal administration to fight antisemitism, and we will continue to make all efforts to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our students, faculty, and staff."

As for students, recent reports show enforcement has already started. Abed Ayoub, head of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, said the organization heard from at least a dozen students who left the U.S. for winter break have not been able to return because their visas were cancelled without explanation.

"This should be a concern of all Americans because this opens the door to really criminalizing any speech and any expression in the nation," he told NPR.