(The Center Square) – An advocacy group sued the U.S. Department of Education seeking records related to the Biden administration’s response to anti-Israel riots held on Columbia University’s campus after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attacks against Israel.

Under the Biden administration, antisemitism flourished on U.S. college campuses as pro-Hamas rioters took over U.S. college campuses, including Columbia University, attacking Jewish students, harassing and threatening public officials, The Center Square reported.

For more than a year, antisemitism and violence escalated  by nearly 400% against Jews in America and Jewish students said they didn’t feel safe on U.S. college campuses, including at Columbia University, The Center Square reported.

Last June, the Center to Advance Security in America, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the safety and security of Americans and to government transparency, submitted two Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to the U.S. Department of Education to find out how it handled “the rampant antisemitic discrimination that erupted in American educational institutions following Hamas’s terror attack against Israel on October 7, 2023.”

“Large demonstrations and encampments at Columbia University have been left unaddressed, resulting in calls for the university president to resign,” CASA Director James Fitzpatrick wrote in one letter to the agency. “Allowing university students to effectively control the campus grounds while creating a hostile environment for Jewish students sets a dangerous precedent for higher education while also impacting diplomatic efforts in support of Israel. Therefore, increased transparency on addressing campus protests is necessary to mitigate heightened antisemitism and violence.”

The FOIA requested communications to, from or received from DOE officials that contained phrases or words related to the riots, as well as records of meeting requests, meeting invitations, call logs and chats related to Columbia University encampments and riots. CASA also requested calendar entries of DOE officials and communications they had with members of the media, including Politico, the New York Times, the Washington Post, NBC News, ABC News, CBS News, the Los Angeles Times and others.

The DOE acknowledged receipt of the requests but then “failed to provide further communications, responsive records, or a time estimate for its response,” according to the complaint. Since then, CASA has never received the requested information.

On Friday, CASA sued the DOE in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia requesting the court to compel the DOE to provide the requested information in accordance with the law.

“Given the many public statements by former Biden Administration Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona and his leadership team, there are undoubtedly government communications that were exchanged regarding the pro-Hamas, antisemitic demonstrations at Columbia University in the Spring of 2024,” CASA Director James Fitzpatrick told The Center Square. “The American public deserves to see how Biden administration Education Department officials were internally discussing these protests to gain insight into why no action was taken to address the threat to Jewish students.”

Even after President Donald Trump was sworn into office and began reversing Biden administration policies, CASA argues releasing the requested information “is in the public interest because it will help the public understand the nature of DOE’s response to mass disturbances, violence, and other serious civil rights issues at Columbia University.” It says its goal is to “inform the public so it can be engaged with its leaders and ensure their decisions are consistent with America’s best interests.”

Trump policies have prioritized cracking down on antisemitism on U.S. college campuses. One executive order he issued required higher education institutions to eliminate what he described as discriminatory policies under the guise of “diversity, equity and inclusion.”

Another directed the targeting and deporting of pro-Hamas and Palestinian rioters who are either in the U.S. illegally or admitted through visas to rescind their visa and remove them from the country, The Center Square reported.

Last month, the Trump administration announced it was cancelling $400 million in federal grants and contracts to Columbia, arguing it failed to crack down on antisemitism on campus. The move resulted in Columbia announcing it would overhaul its student disciplinary process, ban protesters from wearing masks on campus, ban demonstrations in academic buildings, adopt a new definition of antisemitism among other changes, The Center Square reported.

CASA’s lawsuit was filed by Dhillon Law Group, whose founder, Harmeet Dhillon, was nominated by Trump to lead the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division. The U.S. Senate confirmed her nomination on Thursday.

Last month, CASA first sued the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for failing to release records related to Secret Service staff possibly colluding with some congressional Democrats to strip then presidential candidate Trump of his Secret Service detail after a failed assassination attempt was made against him, The Center Square reported.

(The Center Square) – Republican U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Jim Banks, R-Ind. introduced a bill to create Education Savings Accounts for the children of active-duty service members.

The bill would amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to allow parents of eligible military-dependent children to establish Military Education Savings Accounts.

“School choice is the civil rights issue of the 21st century, and parents should never have to choose between serving their country and ensuring that their children have access to a quality education,” Cruz said, adding that the bill “will ensure that military families are empowered to choose and secure the right education for their children.”

The bill also “supports military readiness by helping attract and retain top talent, ensuring service members don’t have to sacrifice their children’s education,” Banks said.

It would direct the secretaries of the departments of Education and Defense to carry out the program ‘‘at the request of a parent of an eligible military dependent child, establish an account on behalf of such child … into which the Secretary shall deposit funds” and “establish a procedure under which the parent of the child may use funds in the account to pay for the educational expenses of the child in accordance” with the law, according to the bill language.

It would create ESAs for up to $6,000 to apply to reading, writing, language, mathematics, science and social studies instruction. The amount would increase over time in accordance with inflation, apply for one academic year and can be renewed, according to the bill language.

The bill also would create a lottery system if the appropriated funds are insufficient to fully fund the program. It prioritizes siblings of children already benefitting from the ESA program, children of enlisted members, warrant officers and then commissioned officers.

ESAs provide taxpayer subsidies for families to use for educational purposes. The bill would prohibit ESA funds from being used for public school education. Applicants are prohibited from enrolling their child “in a public elementary school or a public secondary school, on a full-time basis while participating in the program,” the bill states.

ESA funds are permitted to be used for private elementary or secondary school tuition; educational co-op, micro-school, learning pod, or hybrid school tuition, including religious schools; private online learning programs; private tutoring; individual classes, extracurricular activities, athletic programs, and educational trips; summer camps and academic camps; materials prescribed by educational therapists or medical professionals; textbooks, curriculum programs, or other instructional materials; computer hardware, software or other technological devices for educational purposes; private school uniforms; fees for nationally standardized tests, advanced placement exams, college or university admission exams; education transportation costs; apprenticeship or vocational training program costs; contributions to a college savings account, among others.

Unused funds would roll over from year to year; funds left over after students graduate high school could be used to finance higher education tuition or costs associated with an alternative professional training, according to the bill language.

The bill also includes stipulations for the Education Secretary to administer the program, includes fraud prevention and reporting requirements, and prohibits religion-based discrimination. It doesn’t apply to National Guard members’ children, excludes postsecondary education, and limits the program to students once they turn 22 or 26, if disabled.

The military ESAs are also tax exempt.

Cruz previously introduced the Education Savings Accounts for Military Families Act in 2023, which went nowhere in a Democratic-controlled Senate during the Biden administration.

(The Center Square) – In another immigration sweep in the largest city of Texas, 174 criminal illegal foreign nationals were deported to Mexico from Houston, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said.

ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations Houston Field Office agents deported 174 “criminal aliens” to Mexico, including 24 gang members.

Combined, those deported were convicted of 610 criminal offenses, ICE said. Many were previously deported multiple times. When including previous deportations, the 174 deported last month were deported a total of 415 times, according to ICE records.

The most recent deportations occurred between March 17 and March 28.

Among their 610 convictions, two were for homicide; four were for rape or sexual assault; five for child sex offenses; 72 for aggravated assault or assault; 49 for theft; five for firearms; 83 for drug trafficking or drug possession; 146 for driving while intoxicated; eight for hit-and-run and 22 for human smuggling, ICE said.

“Many of the criminal aliens removed to Mexico during the two-week period have illegally entered the U.S. numerous times and been convicted of multiple criminal offenses,” ICE said.

Among the Mexican national “criminal aliens” deported were:

• A 36-year-old previously removed from the U.S. 39 times. His convictions include illegal entry, DWI, dangerous drugs, and fraud.
• A 48-year-old previously removed from the U.S. 13 times. His 25 criminal convictions include narcotics offenses, resisting arrest, identity theft, domestic violence, assault, battery, larceny, kidnapping, illegal entry, illegal reentry, and destruction of evidence.
• A 50-year-old documented Florencia 13 gang member previously removed from the U.S. eight times. His convictions include domestic violence, battery, possession of stolen property, drug possession, aggravated assault with a gun, and illegal entry.
• A 60-year-old previously removed from the U.S. seven times. His convictions include eight DWIs, assault and illegal reentry.
• A 46-year-old previously removed from the U.S. seven times. His convictions include three DWIs, multiple for illegal entry and reentry, obstruction, immigration fraud, narcotics possession, and burglary.

“This is just a small snapshot of the amazing work that the brave men and women at ICE do every day to enhance public safety in Southeast Texas,” ICE ERO Houston Field Office Director Bret Bradford said. “Each day they put their lives on the line to apprehend and remove dangerous criminal aliens, transnational gang members and foreign fugitives who have illegally entered the U.S. and are preying on innocent, hardworking Texans. Fueled by our unwavering commitment to protect the public from harm, and united in our determination to restore integrity to our nation’s system of laws, ICE will continue to aggressively pursue and remove anyone who threatens the safety of our communities and the national security of our country.”

The announcement comes after ICE ERO Houston agents arrested 646 illegal foreign nationals in a one-week targeted enforcement action last month, The Center Square reported.

Working with multiple federal, state and local law enforcement partners, ICE agents made the arrests including 543 who’d been charged or convicted of criminal offenses while in the country illegally, including seven documented gang members. The majority arrested, 140, were charged or convicted of an aggravated felony or other violent crimes like homicide, aggravated assault, or domestic violence, according to ICE records.

“In recent years, some of the world’s most dangerous fugitives, transnational gang members and criminal aliens have taken advantage of the crisis at our nation’s southern border to illegally enter the U.S.,” Bradford said. “After illegally entering the country, many of these criminal aliens have gone on to commit violent crime and reign terror on law-abiding residents.”

Their arrests, he said, sent a “resounding message to transnational criminal organizations everywhere that the law enforcement community in the Texas Gulf Coast is more united than ever and will not rest until we’ve eradicated these criminal elements from the country.”

The Trump administration has prioritized deporting the most violent offenders in what it hopes will be a mass deportation effort. Deportations are underway after a record more than 14 million foreign nationals illegally entered the U.S. under the Biden administration, The Center Square exclusively reported.

Under the Trump administration, illegal border crossings have dropped to record lows within two months of President Donald Trump being sworn into office.