Trump administration revokes Harvard's ability to enroll international students

(CN) — The Trump administration escalated its war with Harvard University on Thursday when it revoked the Ivy League school’s ability to enroll international students, a move that threatens thousands of current students’ legal status in the United States.

The Department of Homeland Security, which announced the action with a press release, attributes the revocation to the “unsafe campus environment” that Harvard’s leadership supposedly created by failing to crack down harder on pro-Palestine protests.

“As a result of your refusal to comply with multiple requests to provide the Department of Homeland Security pertinent information while perpetuating an unsafe campus environment that is hostile to Jewish students, promotes pro-Hamas sympathies and employs racist ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ policies, you have lost this privilege,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a letter sent to the prestigious university.

In a statement, Noem also accused Harvard of “coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party” — a claim that appears entirely based on House Republicans’ recent probe into research collaborations between Harvard and the governments of China and Iran.

Revoking Harvard’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program would prevent Harvard from enrolling international students on F- or J- nonimmigrant visas — common forms of student visas — for the 2025-2026 academic year.

It also means that existing students on those visas “must transfer to another university in order to maintain their nonimmigrant status,” per Noem’s letter.

The announcement comes just a week away from Harvard’s graduation.

According to Harvard’s internal statistics, more than 6,700 international students attend the Cambridge, Massachusetts, university, making up more than 27% of the student body.

Last month, Homeland Security requested records from the school about foreign students’ participation in misconduct that could lead to their deportation. Noem threatened to revoke Harvard’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program if it failed to comply.

She followed through with that threat on Thursday after receiving responses from the school that she found “insufficient.”

“This action should not surprise you and is the unfortunate result of Harvard’s failure to comply with simple reporting requirements,” Noem said in the letter.

Harvard can regain its ability to enroll in international students if it agrees to turn over a heap of records on foreign students within the next three days.

Noem is demanding any and all records from the past five years of nonimmigrant students engaging in illegal activity, “dangerous or violent” activity, or threatening activity. She is also seeking “any protest activity involving a nonimmigrant student at Harvard University” in the same window.

“It is a privilege, not a right, for universities to enroll foreign students and benefit from their higher tuition payments to help pad their multibillion-dollar endowments,” Noem said in a statement. “Harvard had plenty of opportunity to do the right thing. It refused. They have lost their Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification as a result of their failure to adhere to the law.”

“Let this serve as a warning to all universities and academic institutions across the country,” Noem added.

Harvard College Democrats said in a statement posted to social media the action from the Trump administration “is textbook authoritarianism,” and encouraged the school to “continue to hold the line.”

“To our international student peers, we stand with you,” the group said. “This administration is playing with your lives to push a radical agenda to control higher education and quiet dissent.”

The move is likely to cause legal backlash from Harvard as the Trump administration is already battling the university in another lawsuit.

Last month, Harvard sued the administration for trying to cut billions of dollars of the school’s research funding.

Harvard claims that the government is using those cuts as “leverage to gain control of academic decisionmaking at Harvard” after it refused to comply with conditions from the White House, including screening international students for their beliefs and installing school administrators aligned with President Donald Trump’s political agenda.

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