Before he took the stage at a campaign event at Georgia's Valdosta State University on Monday afternoon, Donald Trump ordered his Secret Service detail to remove about 30 black students standing quietly on bleachers in the back of the gym, Secret Service agents told USA Today. The students, some of whom were crying or visibly upset after they were escorted outside, said they had no plans to protest Trump. "We didn’t plan to do anything," student Tahjila Davis, 19, told USA Today. "They said, 'This is Trump's property; it's a private event.' But I paid my tuition to be here."
Earlier Monday, Secret Service agents had escorted some Black Lives Matter protesters from a Trump rally in Radford, Virginia — and some kind of Trump security agent choked and threw a Time photographer to the ground as he took pictures. Late Monday, the Trump campaign denied that the Valdosta students were thrown out "at the request of the candidate," according to a statement from campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks. "There is no truth to this whatsoever." Davis, the student, said that she didn't "understand why they would do something like that.... I have not experienced any racism on this campus until now."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Youth Demand promises a 'revolution'The Explainer New protest group picks up Just Stop Oil's mantle and vows to 'build a movement that is going to take control of the British state'
-
Video games to play this summer, from Mario Kart World to Shinobi: Art of VengeanceThe Week Recommends Nintendo launches the Switch 2 with an exclusive 'Mario Kart' entry, and Sega revisits an arcade classic
-
Sudoku medium: June 12, 2025The Week's daily medium sudoku puzzle
-
Trump vows 'very big force' against parade protestersSpeed Read The parade, which will shut down much of the capital, will celebrate the US Army's 250th anniversary and Trump's 79th birthday
-
Smithsonian asserts its autonomy from Trumpspeed read The DC institution defied Trump's firing of National Portrait Gallery Director Kim Sajet
-
Trump sends Marines to LA, backs Newsom arrestspeed read California Gov. Gavin Newsom is filing lawsuits in response to Trump's escalation of the federal response to ICE protests
-
Trump foists National Guard on unwilling Californiaspeed read Protests erupted over ICE immigration raids in LA county
-
Supreme Court lowers bar in discrimination casesspeed read The court ruled in favor of a white woman who claimed she lost two deserved promotions to gay employees
-
Trump-Musk relationship implodes in taunts, threatsspeed read Musk said Trump's multitrillion bill would cause a recession and accused the president of involvement with Jeffrey Epstein
-
Trump hits Africa, Middle East with new travel banSpeed Read The travel ban bars visitors from 12 countries and restricts entry from seven
-
Elon Musk slams Trump's 'pork-filled' signature billspeed read 'Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong,' Musk posted on X
