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The Justice Department’s antisemitism task force chairman Leo Terrell, is taking the Trump administration’s fight against antisemitism directly into Jewish communities on a 15-city nationwide tour, and he says he means business.
Terrell told Fox News Digital that local leaders have too often failed to respond while Jewish Americans face threats in their schools, workplaces and houses of worship.
“The whole purpose of this tour is to go to where the problem is at, to address their needs, and to provide them with federal support,” Terrell said. “Antisemitism is now and we have to come up with solutions for the future.”
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Students at Columbia University participate in an anti-Israel protest. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
The American Tour Against Hate began Oct. 14 in Michigan, bringing representatives from the Justice Department, FBI and Labor Department together with Jewish residents, students, educators and religious leaders. The federal officials addressed antisemitism in workplaces and schools, as well as the enforcement of hate-crime laws.
Terrell said the tour was created to reach communities that feel ignored or abandoned by local officials and to connect them directly with federal resources.
“We had the FBI at the first tour meeting because some of these cities have failed to prosecute hate crimes,” Terrell said, naming Los Angeles, Boston, San Francisco, New York and Detroit. He did not identify specific unprosecuted cases.
Terrell said every stop on the tour would include a public event followed by visits to synagogues, Jewish schools and community centers.
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Leo Terrell, chairman of the DOJ Task Force to Combat Antisemitism speaks during a reception for Black History Month in the East Room of the White House Feb. 20 (Pool via AP)
“The tour is really two days,” he said. “We have a two-hour tour event where the community is invited. You know what we do the next day? I spend the next day, all day in the Jewish community.”
The tour comes as Jews remain disproportionately targeted in religiously motivated hate crimes. According to the latest FBI data, law enforcement agencies reported 1,528 single-bias anti-Jewish hate-crime incidents in 2025. The data also showed that 62.4% of victims of religious-bias hate crimes were targeted because of anti-Jewish bias.
Terrell characterized protecting Jewish students and religious communities as a “24-7 obligation,” encompassing colleges, K-12 schools and synagogues. He also criticized the financial burden Jewish institutions face to protect students and worshipers, describing security expenses as a “Jewish tax.”
Universities remain a major focus of Terrell’s work. He warned university presidents that federal scrutiny would continue if Jewish students remained unprotected, saying potential violations would not disappear with a change in administration.
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Anti-Israel supporters march during a rally marking the 75th anniversary of Nakba, or the “catastrophe” of the creation of Israel, in Dearborn, Michigan on May 13, 2023. (Jeff Kowalsky/AFP via Getty Images)
“All these campus presidents are on notice,” he said. “You know what I think they’re trying to do? I think they’re trying to wait out President Trump. It’s not gonna happen.”
He added, “Because if they fail to take care of Jewish American students, all students, we’re going back at them, each school, because those are ongoing violations,” he said.
“My philosophy is quite simple. Don’t cut deals with these guys,” Terrell added. “Force them to go to court, get a court order settlement to make sure they are under the gun to protect Jewish American students.”
Asked about professors and those allegedly encouraging harassment, Terrell pointed to what he described as overseas influence on campuses.
“I think, first of all, there’s a lot of money being brought in from overseas to influence the administration, the faculty members, and what I call professional harassers,” he said.
Asked specifically whether foreign funding and organizational coordination were being investigated, Terrell said, “That is one of the tools.”
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Pro-Palestinian demonstrators gather for a mock trial against the University of Michigan’s Board of Regents on the university’s campus in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on April 21, 2025. The demonstrators claim for the last 18 months, the president and the regents have proven their allegiance to Israel and their own political interests over the university community. (JEFF KOWALSKY/AFP via Getty Images)
“The influence of overseas money as it impacts college campuses and really throughout this country to promote antisemitism. Let me tell you right now, that’s being investigated,” he said.
His call for broader participation extended to young Christians. Terrell spoke to more than 200 students at the Christian Leaders Summit Forum in Lynchburg, Virginia, hosted by the Combat Antisemitism Movement.
Asked why their participation mattered, Terrell called it “probably the most important meeting I’ve ever had in my job,” emphasizing the students’ youth and Christian faith.
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Photos show threatening messages allegedly spray-painted on the Jewish Federation building on the first anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel. (U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Michigan)
“This fight against antisemitism has to include everyone in this country,” he said. “Antisemitism is not a Jewish issue. It’s an American issue. It’s a Western civilization issue.”
“So I need these young people to join me on the stage, telling the Jewish community, telling all Americans we are together in fighting antisemitism,” he added. “Religious freedom must be available to all Americans.”
Asked what Jewish Americans who feel abandoned could count on him to deliver, Terrell urged them to seek help.
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“I will never say no,” he said. “I will never say no to help. Call my office, call the department of justice.”
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