Leo Terrell Shares Text of 'Executive Order on Additional Measures to Combat Anti-Semitism'

Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Leo Terrell shares a press release from the Office of Public Affairs of the Department of Justice entitled, "Justice Department Announces Formation of Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism."

Pursuant to President Trump’s Executive Order on Additional Measures to Combat Anti-Semitism, the Justice Department announced today the formation of a multi-ag…

Shared via the Google app https://t.co/TyvnZbgdUx
— Leo Terrell (@LeoTerrellDOJ) May 25, 2025

The text of the press release, dated Monday, February 3, 2025, reads as follows.

Pursuant to President Trump’s Executive Order on Additional Measures to Combat Anti-Semitism, the Justice Department announced today the formation of a multi-agency Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism. The Task Force’s first priority will be to root out anti-Semitic harassment in schools and on college campuses.
In addition to the Department of Justice, the Task Force will include representatives from the U.S. Department of Education, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and other agencies as it develops. The Task Force will be coordinated through the Department’s Civil Rights Division.
“Anti-Semitism in any environment is repugnant to this Nation’s ideals,” said Senior Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Leo Terrell, who will be heading the Task Force. “The Department takes seriously our responsibility to eradicate this hatred wherever it is found. The Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism is the first step in giving life to President Trump’s renewed commitment to ending anti-Semitism in our schools.”

Hatred of people is wrong, period. The hatred of a group of people because they exist is inconsistent with our founding principles and runs contrary to basic morality. Our founding principles include life, liberty, rights, justice, and opportunity for all Americans. Bastions of high education should be working to promote an understanding of such principles; they should be working to promote an understanding of how such principles apply to all Americans; and they should be working to promote an understanding of how freedom in America under such principles is important to our continuance as a nation and to the world.

These bastions of high education produce curricula that require students to learn the material taught in order to achieve a successful grade, but the institutions themselves have failed to know and teach the most basic and important parts of American education. Perhaps that is because too many educators are themselves ignorant. Perhaps that is because there are evils to be learned from, evils such as British tyranny, slavery, and the Holocaust; and perhaps that is uncomfortable and inconvenient to a pre-ordained agenda. Perhaps it is because the exorbitant cost of higher education has lessened the depth of what is being taught.

Whatever the reason, it is wrong for institutions that claim to be part of higher education to not teach our history and to not promote environments that uphold the dignity of all.