Harvard Calls Trump Ban On International Students Unlawful

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In a major escalation of its fight with Harvard University, the Trump administration has revoked Harvard’s ability to enroll international students and said that existing foreign students must transfer or lose their legal status.

Harvard immediately vowed to contest the action.

“The government’s action is unlawful,” a university spokesperson said in a statement. “We are fully committed to maintaining its ability to host international students and scholars from more than 140 countries and enrich the university. This retaliatory action threatens serious harm to the Harvard community and our country, and undermines Harvard’s academic and research mission.”

Harvard is expected to file a second lawsuit against the Trump administration over the decision. The university sued the administration last month over the government’s attempt to impose changes to its curriculum, admissions policies and hiring practices.

“I hope they can strike it down quickly or it will have terrible repercussions,” says Caroline Diarte-Edwards, a co-founder of Fortuna Admissions, a leading MBA admissions consulting firm.

MORE THAN ONE IN THREE MBA STUDENTS ARE INTERNATIONAL

Regardless of the outcome, the order is likely to have a chilling impact on applications to U.S. schools from abroad. Admission officials have already expressed worry that Trump’s efforts to revoke student visas in other cases will result in fewer international applicants in this coming admissions season. This latest decision to prevent Harvard from enrolling internationals and forcing the transfer of existing international students will no doubt cause many to put their education on hold or go elsewhere.

About 27% of Harvard’s students, or 6,800, are from outside the U.S. That includes 35% of the 930 students in Harvard Business School‘s Class of 2026. The largest chunk of international MBA students in the class, 13%, hail from Asia, with 8% from Europe and 5% from Mexico, Central and South America.

The move comes after Harvard refused to provide information Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem had previously demanded about some foreign student visa holders who attend the university.

ADMINISTRATION CLAIMS HARVARD FOSTERED ‘VIOLENCE, ANTISEMITISM’ ON CAMPUS

“I am writing to inform you that effective immediately, Harvard University’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification is revoked,” according to a letter Noem sent Harvard on Thursday (May 22).

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

“As a result of your brazen 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 rhetoric, and employs racist ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ policies, you have lost this privilege,” Noem wrote in her letter to Harvard.

Noem, who called the move the “direct result of Harvard’s epic failure to comply with simple reporting requirements,” offered Harvard 72 hours to provide the information requested for an opportunity to regain its visa program for the next school year.

JUDGE GRANTS INJUNCTION

Also Thursday, but not directly related to Harvard’s SEVP certification, California U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White blocked the administration from terminating international students’ legal status.

The order prohibits the government from arresting or detaining the plaintiffs and similar students, and from relocating any of them outside the area where they reside, according to the Associated Press.

The order follows the cancellation of study permissions for more than 4,700 international students this spring, part of the Trump administration’s broader crackdown on foreign nationals protesting at U.S. university campuses.