The Trump administration is on a tour of U.S. cities to combat anti-Semitism and hate overall.

The 15-city tour kicked off in Southfield, Michigan, on Oct. 14 with an address from Leo Terrell, who leads the Department of Justice Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism. Dubbed the American Tour Against Hate, the tour came in response to the rise in anti-Semitism nationwide since the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

“This administration, unlike any other administration, is committed 24/7 to fighting anti-Semitism,” Terrell told the audience.

In an Oct. 14 interview with NTD, the sister outlet of The Epoch Times, Terrell said that Jewish Americans are not getting support from their local communities when it comes to the issue of anti-Semitism. He also said local communities are failing to combat hate crimes.

Terrell said that he pitched the 15-city tour to President Donald Trump, who gave his approval.

Terrell noted that Trump has signed two executive orders on combating anti-Semitism. Trump’s message to his administration was “use every tool in the toolbox,” Terrell said.

Trump signed an executive order in 2019 that directed federal agencies to consider the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of anti-Semitism when determining whether there was a violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. His successor, former President Joe Biden, did not nullify the executive order as he had done with other executive orders Trump signed during his first administration.

The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of anti-Semitism, which has been adopted by dozens of countries, is “a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of anti-Semitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.”

Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin in programs and activities that receive federal taxpayer dollars.

Trump signed an executive order in 2025 to further address anti-Semitism, particularly on college and university campuses. It allows students on U.S. visas to be deported if they express views that, for example, support the terrorist group Hamas.

“This administration went after colleges who were basically discriminating and denying access to the Jewish community,” Terrell said.

“This administration fought to make sure that hate crime charges were being filed on the federal level,” he continued. “And this administration has used every tool to take away those individuals who are using the privilege of being in this great country, but yet antagonizing Jewish Americans.”

Harvard University, which lost federal funding last year for what the administration said is an insufficient response to combating anti-Semitism on campus, criticized the move as “unlawful and beyond the government’s authority” and filed a federal lawsuit. A federal judge ruled in favor of Harvard in September 2025, but the Trump administration appealed the decision. An appeals court heard the case this month.

In March, the Trump administration sued Harvard over what they said is allowing anti-Semitic discrimination and demonstrations. A federal judge dismissed the lawsuit, saying the administration did not prove civil rights violations.

Additionally, there has been criticism over the targeting of those the administration has said have fueled anti-Semitism. One of those people is Mahmoud Khalil, who has been accused by critics of leading anti-Semitic and anti-Israel protests at Columbia University. The administration has been looking to deport Khalil, who is challenging his case before the Supreme Court.

Khalil has criticized the administration’s targeting him as a violation of his free speech rights.

“If the decision stands, the government would be handed a powerful and unprecedented weapon to silence its critics, and to chill the speech of countless others, including citizens, who wish to avoid the government’s wrath against themselves and their loved ones,” his lawyers said in their petition before the Supreme Court.

“Our laws and our Constitution do not permit this kind of malevolent abuse of executive power,” they added.

According to a 2025 survey of American Jews by the nonpartisan American Jewish Committee, 91 percent of American Jews feel less safe as a Jewish person in the United States due to violent incidents such as the burning of the gubernatorial home of Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who is Jewish; the firebombing of Jews in Boulder, Colorado, during a demonstration calling for the release of hostages in Gaza; and the murder of two Israeli diplomats outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington.

Seventy-eight percent of American Jews said they have felt less safe as a Jewish person in the United States since the Oct. 7, 2023, attack—according to the survey—where about 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage.

While the number of anti-Semitic incidents decreased in 2025 from the previous year, it was much higher than in years prior to 2023, according to the Anti-Defamation League.

According to a Feb. 17 survey by Hillel International and the American Jewish Committee, 42 percent of Jewish college students reported experiencing anti-Semitism on their campus.

Finally, Terrell said that the tour is about combating more than just anti-Semitism.

“All form of hate is wrong, and we’re going after all different types of hate. And the uniqueness about this tour, you’re going to see blacks, Catholics, Muslims, Arabs, young, old, all different people in this great country forming a united front against all forms of hate,” he said.

Terrell added, “If there is some type of hate being directed at a protected class, class based on your ethnicity, your national origin, your religion, we’re going after them.”

Reuters contributed to this report.