Trump administration blocks Harvard's ability to enrol international students

The Trump administration has blocked Harvard's ability to enrol international students, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

Trump's Department of Homeland Security (DHS) secretary Kristi Noem said the administration had revoked Harvard's "Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification as a result of their failure to adhere to the law."

This administration is holding Harvard accountable for fostering violence, antisemitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party on its campus.

It is a privilege, not a right, for universities to enroll foreign students and benefit from their higher tuition payments… pic.twitter.com/12hJWd1J86

— Secretary Kristi Noem (@Sec_Noem) May 22, 2025

DHS said it revoked the certification because the private school's leadership "has created an unsafe campus environment by permitting anti-American, pro-terrorist agitators to harass and physically assault individuals, including many Jewish students, and otherwise obstruct its once-venerable learning environment."

“Many of these agitators are foreign students," DHS said.

Noem in April threatened to revoke Harvard's SEVP certification if the university did not comply with her demand for information about purported "criminality and misconduct of foreign students on campus," the department said.

"Harvard University brazenly refused to provide the required information requested and ignored a follow up request from the Department's Office of General Council," DHS said.

This is the latest salvo in the administration's escalating standoff with Harvard.

Harvard has called the move "unlawful".

In its statement, the university said it was working "quickly to provide guidance and support to members of our community."

It also said the administration's action undermines Harvard's "academic and research mission."

According to Noem's letter, Harvard will have to comply with a list of demands to have an "opportunity" to be able to enrol international students again.

Noem also said it was a "privilege, not a right" to enrol foreign students and "benefit from their higher tuition payments to help pad their multibillion-dollar endowments".

Noem's letter says Harvard has 72 hours to comply with the demands.

Image from White House and Harvard/FB