Columbia University, in defiance of the Trump administration’s plans to deport terror supporting non-citizen students, is “refusing to help” the federal government locate students “who have engaged in pro-Hamas activity,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced on Tuesday. 

“Columbia University has been given the names of other individuals who have engaged in pro-Hamas activity, and they are refusing to help DHS identify those individuals on campus,” Ms. Leavitt said during the briefing. 

She further warned that President Trump “is not going to tolerate that” adding that “we expect all America’s colleges and universities to comply with this administration’s policy.” 

Columbia University has not immediately responded to the Sun’s request for comment. 

The school’s resistance comes as the Trump administration has made moves to follow through on its promise to deport non-citizen student agitators who support Hamas or other American-designated terror organizations. 

The largest escalation was seen over the weekend, when Immigration Enforcement Officials arrested and detained an anti-Israel activist at Columbia University on an order by the State Department to revoke his visa and green card. Mahmoud Khalil, a Syrian national who entered the United States on a student visa and later received permanent resident status, was one of the leaders of the anti-Israel student encampment movement that has roiled Columbia University since October 2023. 

“This is an individual who organized group protests that not only disrupted college campus classes and harassed Jewish American students and made them feel unsafe on their own college campus, but also distributed pro-Hamas propaganda fliers,” Ms. Leavitt said.

Mr. Khalil’s deportation was temporarily blocked by a federal judge who summoned both sides to the courtroom on Wednesday. Still, President Trump vowed on Monday that Mr. Khalil’s arrest “is the first arrest of many to come.” He declared on Truth social: “We will find, apprehend, and deport these terrorist sympathizers from our country — never to return again.”

The interim president of Columbia university, Katrina Armstrong, sent a university-wide email on Monday attempting to quell concerns about immigration officials on campus. “I understand the distress that many of you are feeling about the presence of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in the streets around campus,” Ms. Armstrong wrote. “I feel it too and am working with our team to manage the response.”

Ms. Armstrong assured the student body that the rumors regarding ICE’s presence on the Morningside Heights campus were “false” and noted that “law enforcement must have a judicial warrant to enter non-public University areas, including residential University buildings.”