The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is set to take sweeping legal action against campus activists accused of supporting Hamas and intimidating Jewish students.
Federal hate crime indictments are expected to be filed in the coming days as part of a broader crackdown led by the DOJ’s Task Force to Combat Antisemitism.
Leo Terrell, senior counsel to the assistant U.S. attorney general for civil rights, revealed the plans during an interview with Israel’s Channel 12 News on Wednesday.
“You see all these disorderly demonstrations, supporting Hamas and trying to intimidate Jews? We are going to put these people in jail—not for 24 hours, but for years,” Terrell said, according to Newsmax.
The DOJ announced the task force on Feb. 3, following an executive order by President Donald Trump on “Additional Measures to Combat Antisemitism.” The initiative aims to combat antisemitic harassment, particularly within educational institutions.Â
The task force includes representatives from the Departments of Education and Health and Human Services, working under the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division.
Terrell, a devout Christian, criticized the previous administration’s handling of antisemitic incidents, claiming it failed to take meaningful action.
“Under the Biden administration, local prosecutors did not take action to file hate crime charges,” he stated. “In major cities like New York and Los Angeles, Jews have been harassed and denied access to universities.
“They did nothing and failed at their job,” he continued. “We are about to do more in a month than Biden and Harris did in four years.”
According to Terrell, the first indictments will be filed within the next week and a half, with additional aggressive measures to follow.
“A lot is going to happen in the next four to five weeks,” he said. “My message to Jews in the United States and around the world—help is on the way.”
The DOJ plans to impose harsh consequences on protesters and universities that fail to protect Jewish students.
“When protesters face jail time, it will stop,” Terrell asserted.
He also outlined plans to revoke visas of antisemitic students and strip federal funding from non-compliant universities.
“When you see universities start losing millions of dollars in federal funding, you’re going to see a change in their behavior,” he explained. “When you see court orders protecting Jewish students, visas of antisemitic students being revoked—you will see a major change.”
Terrell also announced a tour of 10 universities accused of allowing harassment against Jewish students. He warned college administrators that institutions failing to protect Jewish students would face financial consequences.
“Protect Jewish students like you protect all other students, or we’ll sue you and take away your funding. We’re going to make sure they don’t get a penny,” he said, asserting that the DOJ will “financially attack” universities that fail to protect their students.
This initiative comes as part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to address antisemitism in higher education. The Education Department has launched investigations into multiple universities, including Columbia University and the University of California, Berkeley, over allegations that antisemitic behavior has been tolerated on campus.
