Leo Terrell, senior counsel to the assistant attorney general for civil rights, says he’s undeterred by critics of the Trump administration’s approach to combating antisemitism, arguing that those dissatisfied with its deportation strategy are “trying to justify, in my opinion, the antisemitic behavior” of those individuals. 

Terrell, who has a career spanning three decades as a civil rights attorney and a conservative media personality, sat down on Monday for his first interview with Jewish Insider since joining the Justice Department earlier this year — at a time when some mainstream Jewish organizations, including the Anti-Defamation League and the American Jewish Committee, have expressed concern that the administration’s approach has violated the due process rights of the individuals being targeted. The Trump administration has argued that non-citizens do not have the same constitutional protections as U.S. citizens, though the Fourteenth Amendment grants due process rights to all people regardless of status. 

“That question is being asked quite often, and I think those people who are raising that issue are trying to justify, in my opinion, the antisemitic behavior,” Terrell said. “If you’re an American citizen, I have due process on a lot of different criminal issues if I’m arrested. I have due process. That term due process needs to be evaluated depending on the status of the individuals who assert it.”

“I will submit to you that individuals who are here on, let’s say, for example, a student visa, who are not American citizens, who are here as a privilege by this country, do not have the same due process rights, do not have the same access to the court system as I do as an American citizen,” he continued, adding, “Your rights depend on your status in this country. You won’t hear that because it’s the truth, it’s not a talking point.”

Terrell said he and Harmeet Dhillon, the assistant attorney general for civil rights at the DOJ, remain confident they are following the law. He also said he wants injunctive relief for Jewish students from U.S. citizens and foreign nationals involved in antisemitic hate crimes. 

“How many times do we see individuals violating the rights of Jewish American students use the lying argument of freedom of speech, and it was adopted by a majority of the left-wing media, but these blue cities allow these individuals to be violent. They were arrested, and then they were released, and they were never prosecuted. They were never prosecuted. And that type of mentality existed not only on the local level, but on the federal level as well. That has stopped under the Trump administration,” Terrell explained.

“One of the first questions you mentioned is, and I’ve heard it the last couple of days, if you think the Trump administration is too hard or being too aggressive? They raise that question, and I’ve heard it in three different locations, but I say no, we’re not aggressive enough. If you’re comparing that there’s been some progress in relationship to the Biden administration, that’s not much of a standard, because they did nothing,” he added.

When asked about Columbia University, where new acting President Claire Shipman oversaw the suspension and arrests of some of the students involved in last week’s takeover of the school’s main library, Terrell said the university’s actions were insufficient because they did not deter future action from the protesters. 

“Some people have said, well, you know, some of these students have been suspended by the college president. Not good enough. There’s no deterrent mechanism. You need deterrence where it doesn’t happen again. And under the Trump administration, I can tell you right now, I’m using the tools of Title VI [of the Civil Rights Act]. I’m using the tools of filing hate crimes as a deterrent mechanism,” Terrell said, later noting, “Trump is dead set on eliminating antisemitism, and besides the litigation that we are contemplating … we’ve got some tools … that we’re going to be disclosing later on, that are going to definitely have a major factor.”

Terrell added that he stood by the decision to target the individuals the Trump administration had sought to deport as part of its antisemitism policy, including the case of Rümeysa Öztürk, the Tufts University doctoral student and Turkish national who was released from detention last week amid criticism from several leading Jewish groups as federal authorities continue pushing for her deportation. Some Jewish leaders and organizations had argued against Öztürk’s detention due to the lack of evidence against her the federal government has made public; currently, her only known anti-Israel activity is a critical op-ed she co-authored in her school newspaper.

“The Civil Rights team is more concerned with getting rid of the problem than making everybody comfortable while they do so. I believe the previous administration expressed commitment, both in speech and in certain actions, to fighting antisemitism, but then allowed antisemitism to get diluted to the point where the effort was regrettably no longer as effective. A wise man once said, when you get too well-rounded, you stop pointing anywhere. An effort to combat and eradicate antisemitism must do that,” Rabbi Levi Shemtov, the executive vice president of American Friends of Lubavitch (Chabad), told JI. 

Öztürk’s release on bail, Terrell explained, “has nothing to do with the merit as to whether or not she can be removed based on the evidence and the discretion of the secretary of state.” 

“Yes, she got released on bail. So the standard for bail is: Are you a flight risk? Are you a danger? Will you return? That has nothing to do with the merit of her status here. … The decision on the merits as to whether or not she will remain in this country has not been decided,” Terrell said, criticizing the news media’s portrayal of the latest developments in Öztürk’s case as inaccurate.

Asked if any universities had responded to campus antisemitism in ways that he found satisfactory, Terrell pointed to Dartmouth College. “I was very pleased when the president of Dartmouth College came by and spoke to us, and they got a very favorable grade from the ADL as far as battling antisemitism. If I was going to mention one school that is on the right track to combat antisemitism, that has addressed the issue, and not tried to dodge it or look for press coverage because they suspended some students, Dartmouth College would be probably number one on my list,” he said. 

Looking off campus, Terrell told JI he has reached out to the mayors of Boston, Los Angeles, Chicago and New York City to try to find ways to work together on campus antisemitism “because I felt those were major cities that had failed to protect Jewish American students, not only on campus, but Jewish Americans period, in the city.” 

Terrell said that he hasn’t heard back from Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass or Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, but his message to them is that he’s “not going to run away from that. I’m going to meet it head on.”

“I’m going to do everything I can to get him [Johnson] and those [Chicago City] Council members to change their ways. The federal government has a lot of tools, and we’re going to use all of them. The one thing I can tell you is that I’ve had conversations with the president about this as late as last week, and he said basically in so many words, whatever you need on this subject just call me directly, just talk to me directly. Because I have approached him on certain issues involving resolving some of these issues in schools and he wants complete, 100% compliance,” Terrell said.

While he has some detractors, Terrell also has a number of Jewish leaders in his corner who argue his approach to his current role was bound to ruffle some feathers. 

Ambassador Yechiel Leiter, Israel’s envoy to the U.S., told JI in a statement, “Leo Terrell has hit the ground running … showing remarkable clarity and passion. From day one, he has demonstrated unwavering commitment to this crucial fight — through strong public statements, meaningful action, and a clear moral compass.”

“The Civil Rights team is more concerned with getting rid of the problem than making everybody comfortable while they do so. I believe the previous administration expressed commitment, both in speech and in certain actions, to fighting antisemitism, but then allowed antisemitism to get diluted to the point where the effort was regrettably no longer as effective. A wise man once said, when you get too well-rounded, you stop pointing anywhere. An effort to combat and eradicate antisemitism must do that,” Rabbi Levi Shemtov, the executive vice president of American Friends of Lubavitch (Chabad), told JI. 

“We cannot compromise our efforts to deal with the situation just so that everybody’s very comfortable with what we’re doing. Unconventional and illegal are not the same thing, and people facing existential threats cannot be expected to make everybody comfortable while they fight for their survival,” Shemtov continued, later adding: “Any energetic effort might test some limits here or there.” 

Ambassador Yechiel Leiter, Israel’s envoy to the U.S., told JI in a statement, “Leo Terrell has hit the ground running … showing remarkable clarity and passion. From day one, he has demonstrated unwavering commitment to this crucial fight — through strong public statements, meaningful action, and a clear moral compass.”

“We deeply value our partnership with him and appreciate his willingness to listen, engage, and stand up against hatred in all its forms. His leadership is both encouraging and inspiring at a time when it’s needed most,” Leiter added.

Terrell spent more than two decades amassing a large following on the talk radio circuit and on cable news, serving as a Fox News contributor on legal issues for much of the last decade. He made headlines in 2020 when debuting “Leo 2.0,” his revamped persona, while announcing his move from the Democratic Party to the GOP. 

In his new job, he frequently starts his morning tweeting on X about the rise in antisemitism to his 2.5 million followers.

“The Jewish American community and I have had a love affair for the last 35 years. One of my first jobs as a lawyer, I worked in a Jewish law firm, and I was befriended not only by the Jewish lawyer who helped me get started, but by the community at large. So my relationship with the Jewish American community has been in place for the last 35 plus years,” Terrell said, noting his time leading the California Commission Against Hate Crimes, “where we looked at all hate crimes against Blacks, Browns, Jews, Catholics.”

While Terrell warned in media appearances about the rise of antisemitism in recent years, he was not directly involved in trying to address the issue nationally until 2024, when he began criticizing the Biden administration’s lack of response to incidents of antisemitism taking place amid anti-Israel campus protests. 

Still, Terrell says he’s no stranger to fighting for civil rights protections for all, citing his three-decade “love affair” with the Jewish people and his legal career, which included efforts to address antisemitism in California.

“The Jewish American community and I have had a love affair for the last 35 years. One of my first jobs as a lawyer, I worked in a Jewish law firm, and I was befriended not only by the Jewish lawyer who helped me get started, but by the community at large. So my relationship with the Jewish American community has been in place for the last 35 plus years,” Terrell said, noting his time leading the California Commission Against Hate Crimes, “where we looked at all hate crimes against Blacks, Browns, Jews, Catholics.” 

“I have committed to civil rights and my commitment to the Jewish American community has been so heartwarming based on my experience here in this position and on Fox, but it goes well beyond that. It goes well beyond that. For the last 25 to 30 years, ever since I have been a lawyer, I’ve had a fantastic, strong, great relationship with the Jewish American community and it is going to maintain.”