White House says it will not send National Guard to end protests at Columbia

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Thursday said the Biden administration will not send the National Guard to help stop anti-Israel protests at Columbia University.

House Speaker Mike Johnson suggested that President Joe Biden should send in the National Guard on Wednesday, if the threats and intimidation toward Jewish students does not stop. Protests at the Ivy League school have been ongoing for more than a week, and have resulted in more than 100 arrests.

Jean-Pierre said that the activation of the National Guard was a state’s responsibility, and declined to say whether the president supported deploying the guard, or if he would, if asked to do so by a governor.

“That is something that is under the governors, [and] ... something for the governors to decide,” Jean-Pierre told reporters aboard Air Force One, per Politico. She added that Biden has called out antisemitism and other hate speech in response to the unrest.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, has not requested any federal assistance with the protests so far, despite the situation worsening in recent days. But she slammed Johnson's visit on Wednesday, accusing him of "politicizing" the demonstrations. The protests have also spread to other colleges nationwide, which has increased pressure on the Biden administration to send help, but no official request for federal assistance has been made.

The Texas National Guard said that it is prepared to help if called on, but so far only Texas state troopers have been summoned to help with protests at the Texas State University at Austin, the Associated Press reported. At Columbia, the New York Police Department has been called by university officials.

Johnson’s office confirmed to Politico that it reached out to the White House about Columbia’s protests after his speech, but the speaker has not spoken to Biden directly.