On Wednesday evening, October 14, hundreds of people gathered at Congregation Shaarey Zedek in Southfield, Michigan. President Donald Trump addressed them by video. Leo Terrell, who leads the Justice Department’s Task Force to Combat Antisemitism, attended in person, along with law enforcement representatives and Jewish community leaders.
It was the first stop of the Justice Department’s American Tour Against Hate, a 15-city campaign announced back in May.
I’m curious how many American Jews even knew this was happening. I’ll admit I had zero clue and only found out about it when a friend sent me some information. Because the tour is just one part of what the Trump administration has been doing since January 2025, and much of that work seems to have gone unnoticed, despite conversations about Trump continuing to dominate the headlines.
The administration has investigated universities, filed civil rights lawsuits, canceled federal funding, reached agreements with schools, and created task forces to address antisemitism and crimes connected to October 7. Some cases are still in court. Others have already led to changes in school policies.
Feel however you want about Donald Trump, I have lots of opinions about the dude. But…these are the facts. And I believe in facts over feelings.
I’ve been around enough political arguments to know what’s coming for me. Someone will bring up Charlottesville, the Proud Boys, something Trump said in an interview, or a clip they’ve watched a hundred times. Everyone is entitled to an opinion about the president. Personally, I think hate is a complete waste of an emotion. And I watched the full videos those soundbites are pulled from. Again…facts over feelings.
I’ve gone through government announcements, federal investigations, lawsuits, settlements, and numerous public records of his administration's actions. I’m not asking anyone to change their political views, and I’m certainly not asking anyone to like Donald Trump. I barely like him. Yes, I find him amusing sometimes.
Anyhooo… sources are included at the end of this article so you can check the information yourself.
Disagree with his politics all you like. Feel all the feels. That doesn’t make a federal lawsuit disappear, undo a settlement, or change the date an executive order was signed. If there’s a factual error, bring the evidence. And this article is 100% fact-based. From here forward.
On December 11, 2019, during his first presidency, Trump signed Executive Order 13899, directing federal agencies to consider the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism when examining certain civil rights complaints.
The order addressed Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which protects students from discrimination based on race, color, or national origin at schools receiving federal funding. Jewish students can receive protection under that law when discrimination involves their shared ancestry or ethnic identity.
The order told federal officials to consider whether conduct involving Israel or Zionism might also involve antisemitic discrimination. It did not make criticism of Israel automatically illegal, and it remained in place during Biden’s presidency.
Nine days after returning to the White House, Trump signed Executive Order 14188, titled "Additional Measures to Combat Anti-Semitism," on January 29, 2025. The order directed federal agencies to review their authority to address antisemitism, including complaints involving schools and universities.
On February 3, the Justice Department announced a Task Force to Combat Antisemitism, led by civil rights attorney Leo Terrell. The task force brought together officials from the Justice Department, the Department of Education, the Department of Health and Human Services, and other federal agencies.
Colleges and universities were among its first targets. Jewish students had been reporting harassment, intimidation, and exclusion from campus activities since October 7, and federal officials began examining how schools were responding.
On March 7, 2025, four federal agencies announced the cancellation of approximately $400 million in federal grants and contracts to Columbia University.
The administration accused Columbia of failing to protect Jewish students during months of campus protests, encampments, and confrontations. Jewish students had reported harassment and problems accessing campus spaces, while the university faced criticism over its disciplinary response.
The funding cuts affected research programs and led to legal and academic objections. Federal officials argued that universities receiving taxpayer money had to follow civil rights laws.
In July 2025, Columbia reached an agreement with the administration. The university agreed to pay $200 million over three years, make changes to its disciplinary procedures and protest rules, and address discrimination complaints under revised policies. The agreement also provided a path toward restoring federal research funding.
Columbia did not admit wrongdoing. It nevertheless agreed to substantial policy changes and a financial settlement after months of federal pressure.
Harvard faced its own federal investigations following complaints from Jewish and Israeli students about harassment, intimidation, and exclusion from campus activities after October 7.
The administration also moved against Harvard’s federal funding, leading to court battles over the government’s authority and the university’s rights.
On March 20, 2026, the Justice Department filed a civil rights lawsuit alleging that Harvard had failed to protect Jewish and Israeli students from discrimination under Title VI. The complaint accused the university of allowing harassment to continue while failing to enforce its campus rules fairly.
Harvard disputes the government’s allegations and has challenged federal actions against the university. The lawsuit is an allegation brought by the government, and the court must determine whether Harvard violated the law.
UCLA became one of the most widely discussed campuses after the 2024 encampments. Jewish and Israeli students reported being blocked from parts of campus, harassed, and physically attacked during confrontations around the protests.
Federal officials investigated the university’s response. In July 2025, the Justice Department announced findings that UCLA had failed to meet its responsibilities under Title VI.
The administration later filed two separate lawsuits involving UCLA.
On February 24, 2026, the Justice Department sued the University of California under Title VII, alleging that Jewish and Israeli faculty and staff had faced a hostile work environment.
On May 26, it filed another lawsuit under Title VI, this time involving Jewish and Israeli students. That case alleged that UCLA failed to respond adequately to discrimination and harassment during the campus unrest.
The university disputes the government’s allegations. Both lawsuits involve claims that must be tested in court, but they cover two different groups of people: employees and students.
At Lincoln Memorial University’s DeBusk College of Osteopathic Medicine in Tennessee, Jewish students requested accommodations to observe religious holidays during the 2025–26 academic year.
According to the Justice Department, the school denied requests from Jewish students while allowing certain nonreligious absences. After the students challenged the policy, the medical school adopted a rule in January 2026 that generally denied religious accommodations while continuing to excuse some other absences.
The Justice Department and Department of Health and Human Services opened a joint investigation in February.
On September 15, 2026, federal officials announced a voluntary settlement. The school agreed to revise its absence policy, allow religious absences on the same basis as nonreligious ones, explain the new rules to faculty and students, and reverse penalties previously imposed on Jewish students who had been wrongly denied accommodations.
The university cooperated with investigators and remained eligible for federal funding. The agreement also gave the Justice Department a way to check whether the promised changes had been completed.
A Jewish medical student should be able to request time off for Yom Kippur without facing rules that treat religious observance less favorably than other approved absences. The settlement addresses exactly that problem.
Federal enforcement has also reached public schools.
In March 2025, Terrell’s task force contacted officials in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Boston about how schools and universities were responding to antisemitism.
On April 16, 2026, the Justice Department announced a settlement with the Concord-Carlisle school district in Massachusetts. The agreement followed an investigation into complaints about the district’s response to antisemitic harassment among students.
The district agreed to improve how it investigates complaints, protect students from retaliation, train employees, and assign someone to oversee its compliance with civil rights obligations. The Justice Department will monitor the district’s progress.
For Jewish parents, this is a familiar concern. Children shouldn’t have to endure repeated harassment while adults argue over whether a complaint is serious enough to address.
In February 2025, the Department of Health and Human Services opened reviews involving four medical schools following complaints about antisemitic incidents at their 2024 commencement ceremonies.
The reviews examined whether the schools had followed federal civil rights protections for Jewish and Israeli students. The department also addressed antisemitic discrimination through its broader civil rights work involving federally funded healthcare programs.
Medical students depend on their schools for examinations, clinical training, recommendations, and professional opportunities. Unequal treatment can follow a student well beyond a single class.
The Lincoln Memorial University agreement provides a documented example of federal investigators addressing a complaint and reaching a settlement with verifiable changes.
In February 2025, then-Attorney General Pam Bondi established Joint Task Force October 7, known as JTF 10-7.
Its work involves investigating crimes connected to the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks, including offenses involving American victims.
In October 2025, the Justice Department announced the arrest of a Gaza man accused of participating in the attacks. Federal officials credited the task force with helping identify his presence in the United States. Those accusations remain subject to criminal court proceedings, and an arrest is not a conviction.
Bondi left the administration in April 2026. Todd Blanche, who previously served as deputy attorney general, became attorney general and was sworn in during August.
The Justice Department’s antisemitism work has continued under Blanche, including the national tour that began in Michigan this week.
On May 19, 2026, the Justice Department announced its National Awareness & Action Tour, later presented as the American Tour Against Hate.
The tour was designed to bring federal officials into communities, encourage reporting of antisemitic incidents, and improve cooperation between local law enforcement, federal agencies, and Jewish organizations.
The department also announced an antisemitism advisory committee to help guide its work.
The first event took place October 14 at Congregation Shaarey Zedek in Southfield, Michigan. Trump appeared by prerecorded video, and Leo Terrell attended in person. Morton Klein of the Zionist Organization of America participated, while ZOA Michigan helped organize the event.
The gathering also drew questions about fundraising materials connected to ZOA Michigan. Organizers said donations were voluntary. Rabbi Aaron Starr explained that the synagogue was providing the venue and that hosting the event did not amount to a political endorsement.
The tour has only just begun, so its long-term results remain to be seen. The first event brought together federal officials, law enforcement representatives, and members of the Jewish community to discuss reporting, security, and enforcement.
Terrell also addressed something Jewish communities know all too well: the staggering cost of simply being Jewish in America. He called it the “Jewish tax” and said the administration wanted to end that burden.
On May 25, 2023, President Joe Biden’s administration released the first U.S. National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism. It outlined more than 100 federal actions involving education, security, civil rights enforcement, and public awareness.
Following October 7, the administration opened civil rights investigations involving allegations of antisemitism and discrimination based on shared ancestry. The Department of Education reminded schools and universities of their obligations under federal law.
Biden’s administration also supported security funding for Jewish institutions through the Department of Homeland Security’s Nonprofit Security Grant Program. Those grants helped eligible organizations pay for equipment and improvements intended to protect their facilities.
These actions belong in the record. Federal efforts against antisemitism did not begin in January 2025.
The administrations have differed in how they approached enforcement. Biden developed a national strategy and expanded federal coordination, while Trump’s second administration has made prominent use of funding pressure, civil rights lawsuits, settlements, and direct outreach.
Some of the legal tools overlap, and several investigations began under one administration have continued into the next.
On May 6, 2026, the Anti-Defamation League released its annual audit of antisemitic incidents in the United States.
The organization recorded 6,274 incidents in 2025, compared with 9,354 in 2024. That’s a 33 percent decline, although the 2025 total remained the third-highest since the ADL began tracking incidents in 1979.
The figures also showed something deeply troubling. The ADL recorded 203 physical assaults, its highest annual total, and 32 assaults involving deadly weapons, up from 23 the year before. Three people were killed in two deadly antisemitic attacks.
The organization found that 45 percent of recorded incidents involved Israel or Zionism. Its methodology excludes ordinary criticism of Israeli policies and general pro-Palestinian activism that does not meet its criteria for antisemitism.
The decline in overall incidents was driven in part by fewer incidents associated with campus protests and anti-Israel rallies. The ADL’s figures measure reported incidents using its methodology; they don’t establish that any one president or policy caused the decline.
For Jewish families, a drop in harassment and vandalism is welcome news. A record number of physical assaults is a reminder of how much danger remains.
On September 28, 2026, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights released a bipartisan report on antisemitism at American colleges and universities.
The commission found serious problems with inconsistent university responses, limited transparency from federal agencies, and reduced federal enforcement capacity.
The report also examined how civil rights enforcement should work alongside constitutional protections for speech, assembly, and academic freedom.
That matters because federal action has to be legally sound to last. Some of the Trump administration’s funding decisions and university actions have faced court challenges, and those cases could affect how future administrations enforce civil rights laws.
The commission’s report was approved unanimously by a bipartisan group of commissioners. Protecting Jewish students and enforcing federal law remain responsibilities that extend beyond a…
