Colleges and universities that are being targeted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have used financial aid packages and discounts to lure illegal aliens onto their campuses, a Republican lawmaker said.
Immediately after President Donald J. Trump took office, a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) directive cleared the way for enforcement of the nation’s immigration laws to be carried out on campuses, leading to the ICE detention of several students, sparking an outcry from leftists.
Rumeysa Öztürk, a Turkish anti-Israel activist student attending Tufts University, was taken into custody by ICE in Somerville, Massachusetts after DHS revoked her visa following investigations that found she had “engaged in activities in support of Hamas, a foreign terrorist organization that relishes the killing of Americans,” a DHS spokesperson told Fox News, stating that Öztürk was “granted the privilege to be in this country on a visa.”
The Boston-based institute of higher learning has a webpage stating that illegal aliens and those with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) status have eligibility to obtain “100% of demonstrated need” of the cost to attend the university.
“Tufts proudly meets 100% of the demonstrated financial need of every admitted student, regardless of citizenship status,” the webpage reads. An August 2023 fact sheet from the American Immigration Council states that “more than 408,000 undocumented students are enrolled in U.S. colleges and universities,” a number that could potentially be even higher today.
New York City-based Columbia University, which has become notorious for hostility to Jewish students and fomenting hatred for Israel, boasts that it will meet “the full need of all applicants admitted,” and is “regardless of citizenship.”
“Columbia admits a large number of international students who receive a substantial amount of financial aid,” the webpage states.
Rep. Burgess Owens (R-UT) said that institutions of higher learning have been recruiting illegal aliens for “too long” and backs ending the free ride by yanking federal funding from some schools.
“This has been going on way too long, and I’m just thankful that we are really at a point of being able to have these kinds of conversations, be able to hold the colleges accountable, and the only way to do that is to take away the money. That’s the only thing that they understand,” Owens told Fox News Digital.
“We have to make sure that the campus is a safe place. Those who are not here for the right reasons, I think Marco Rubio said it best. You know, we ask questions when people come here to get a visa, and that is: Why you here? If you say you are going to come here so you can disrupt, to demonstrate, to intimidate, to terrorize, then you’ll never get the opportunity to come here,” the Utah Republican continued.
“So yes, we need to make sure those kinds of people that slip through the screens that Obama and Biden obviously did not put up, we’re going to get them out. And we’ll get back to where we welcome the college campus and people that are there to debate, to learn and to grow and to give back to our nation,” Owens told Fox News Digital.
“The purpose of our universities is not to go out and coddle those who hate our nation,” he added.
On Monday, the Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism said that it is reviewing more than $255.6 million in contracts and more than $8.7 billion in multi-year grant commitments between the government and elite Ivy League institution Harvard University, a hotbed of racism, Jew hatred and anti-Americanism.
As part of the Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism, ED, @HHSgov, & @USGSA announced a comprehensive review of more than $255.6 million in contracts & more than $8.7 billion in multi-year grant commitments between Harvard and the Federal Government. https://t.co/uubCQZLmeU https://t.co/gr6PvoinBL
— U.S. Department of Education (@usedgov) March 31, 2025
“Harvard’s failure to protect students on campus from antisemitic discrimination—all while promoting divisive ideologies over free inquiry—has put its reputation in serious jeopardy. Harvard can right these wrongs and restore itself to a campus dedicated to academic excellence and truth-seeking, where all students feel safe on its campus,” Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said, according to the Free Press.
“This administration has proven that we will take swift action to hold institutions accountable if they allow antisemitism to fester,” said anti-Semitism task force member Josh Gruenbaum.
“Antisemitism has no place on our college campuses. Schools that turn a blind eye—or worse, enable it—must be held accountable,” Owens commented in a post to X.
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