In Valdosta, Georgia, a group of black students were removed from a Donald Trump rally — without a clear explanation for why they deserved to be ejected.
On Monday, about 30 black students from Valdosta State University were escorted out from the campus speech, though they weren’t causing a disturbance, according to The Des Moines Register.
“Standing silently at the top of the bleachers,” security officials approached them to escort them out. The Secret Service, Valdosta University police, and the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office, among others, worked the event. The Secret Service denied involvement, saying that the students confused them with other security officials, a common occurrence.
The Trump campaign denied that they ordered the removal and claimed they “had no knowledge of this incident.”
Students reported that they were told Trump did not want them there and that it was Trump’s property, though he was on Valdosta State University property. This isn’t the first instance where Valdosta State students have experienced their rights restricted. In 2007, a student was expelled for protesting the construction of two parking garages on campus.
After the students were escorted out by who they claimed were the Secret Service, Valdosta State University police officers told them they needed to leave the grounds of the event.
The occurrence was overshadowed by Trump’s other Monday rally in Roanoke, Virginia. There, a Secret Service agent choke-slammed a photographer and protesters were regularly removed from the rally.
