The Biden administration is silent on whether students carrying out anti-Israel protests spiraling on college campuses nationwide will be barred from student loan forgiveness programs that have canceled billions of dollars in debt under the 46th president.
“We say justice, you say how. Burn Tel Aviv to the ground,” protesters have chanted on Columbia University’s campus in recent days. “Hamas we love you. We support your rockets, too,” other chants have included.
Colleges from coast to coast, including some of the nation’s most elite schools – including Harvard, Yale, Penn, Berkeley and others – have seen dayslong protests on campuses, where students demand their schools completely divest from Israel as the death toll in Gaza increases.
The protests come following terrorist organization Hamas launching war in Israel on Oct. 7, which initially fanned the flames of antisemitism on campuses in the form of protests, menacing graffiti and students reporting that they felt as if it was “open season for Jews on our campuses.” The protests have now heightened to the point where Jewish students are warned to leave campus for their own safety.
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House on Sunday asking if the administration plans to bar student protesters from eligibility for student loan forgiveness programs but did not receive a response. Biden, in part, campaigned in 2020 on forgiving student loan debt, including pledging to cancel at least $10,000 per borrower back in 2020.
Last year, the Supreme Court struck down the Biden administration’s plan to give up to $20,000 in debt relief per person, though the administration has remained committed to canceling debt through other avenues, including through established relief programs. As of this month, the administration has forgiven roughly $153 billion in debt among about 4.3 million Americans, the Department of Education detailed in a press release on April 12 after the administration announced $7.4 billion in additional student loan debt relief for more than 200,000 borrowers.
Fox News Digital asked the administration if they are weighing whether to bar anti-Israel protesters on campuses from such relief programs, but did not receive a response. Fox Digital also asked if the administration is weighing such an option, if students would be barred based on arrests or through college and law enforcement investigations.
The anti-Israel protests intensified this month, including when the NYPD arrested more than 100 protesters on Columbia’s campus, and a school rabbi warned students last week to leave campus “as soon as possible,” noting that “what we are witnessing in and around campus is terrible and tragic.”
As the protests intensify and video footage of the scenes spread on social media, critics have slammed debt bailouts under the Biden administration.
“Your tax dollars at work,” State Auditor of Mississippi Shad White posted on X last week. “No more DEI (which is feeding this antisemitism). No more student debt bailouts. Fix our universities.”
White’s comment came in response to the popular conservative X account “End Wokeness” posting footage of protests on Columbia’s campus last week, captioning the video, “This is the scene at Columbia University right now. A literal cult is occupying the campus. Remember: We all paid their student debt.”
“IDEA: If a student is arrested in an illegal protest or at least arrested for attacking police he is no longer eligible for student loan relief – he’s got to pay back his loans in full – no forgiveness,” conservative X account Amuse posted while tagging Republican Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz.
Former President Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee for the presidential election, has repeatedly slammed Biden as being responsible for the protests, calling the demonstrations and antisemtism a “disgrace.”