America's Most Famous University Banned From Accepting Foreign Students

The Trump administration said it was limiting Harvard University's ability to admit international students and ordered international students already enrolled at the university to transfer or lose their legal status.

The New York Times reported Thursday that the Trump administration notified Harvard of its decision after ongoing correspondence regarding “the legality of the extensive records request,” according to three people familiar with the matter.

The records request comes as part of a Department of Homeland Security investigation into federal officials threatening the university's admission of foreign students, The Guardian reports.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem posted a copy of the letter on social media. In it, Noem wrote: “I am writing to inform you that, effective today, the certification of Harvard University students and exchange visitors is being revoked.”

“The revocation of your student and exchange visitor certification means that Harvard is prohibited from admitting F or J nonimmigrant international students for the 2025-2026 academic year. This revocation also means that F or J nonimmigrant international students must transfer to another university to maintain their nonimmigrant status,” Kristi Noem continues.

Noem justified her decision by saying, “This action should not surprise you and is the unfortunate result of Harvard’s failure to comply with simple reporting requirements… There must be consequences to send a clear signal to Harvard and all universities that seek the privilege of admitting international students that the Trump Administration will enforce the law and root out the scourge of anti-Americanism and anti-Semitism in our communities and on our campuses.”

The former South Dakota governor also accused Harvard University of “encouraging violence, anti-Semitism and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party on its campus.”

A separate press release from the Department of Homeland Security said: “Secretary Noem is delivering on his promise to protect students and prevent terrorist supporters from receiving benefits from the U.S. government.”

A Harvard spokesman called the government’s actions “unlawful” in a statement to the Guardian on Thursday. “We are fully committed to preserving Harvard’s ability to welcome our international students and scholars, who come from more than 140 countries and immeasurably enrich the university – and our nation,” the spokesperson said. “We are working urgently to provide guidance and support to members of our community. These retaliatory actions threaten to cause serious harm to the Harvard community and our country, and undermine Harvard’s academic and research mission.”

Pippa Norris, an author and lecturer in comparative politics at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, told The Guardian on Thursday that Trump is "effectively depriving American students of international knowledge, he is reducing soft power and therefore weakening America": "And for me personally, that will mean huge problems in terms of teaching."

Norris said “about 90%” of her students are international, so if she “can’t take on any more international students, the demand for participants, etc., will go down.”

She continued: “Imagine you came here, spent a lot of money and resources to get into Harvard, and you got in, and your second or third year of undergrad, or second year of graduate school, and they say, ‘Well, I’m so sorry, but you can’t come here next year.’ I mean, that’s terrible.”

Leo Gerden, an international student from Sweden, called the statement “horrific” in the Harvard Crimson, the university’s newspaper. “They should use every tool they have to try to change this. That could be all the legal resources they can use to sue the Trump administration, everything they can use this fund, everything they can use their political network in Congress,” Gerden said, adding, “That should certainly be the number one priority.”

The university currently has about 6,800 international students, many of whom hold F-1 or J-1 visas, according to university data. International students make up about 27% of the university's population.

The latest decision by the Department of Homeland Security comes amid growing tensions between federal officials and Harvard over the Trump administration's allegations that the university has inadequately addressed anti-Semitism on its campus.

The Trump administration cut off $450 million in additional grants to the university in May, after previously cutting off $2.2 billion in federal funding.

A Trump-appointed task force to combat anti-Semitism has pointed out “how radical Harvard has become” as nationwide anti-war protesters, including students, have rallied against Israel’s deadly assault on Gaza that has killed at least 53,000 Palestinians over the past year and a half.

The Trump administration also ordered the university to scale back its diversity, equity and inclusion programs, limit student protests and disclose admissions details to federal officials.

In response to federal cuts, the university, which has an endowment of more than $53 billion, has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration.

Harvard President Alan Garber said in April that “no government, no matter what party is in power, should dictate to private universities what they can teach, whom they can admit and hire, or in what areas they can do research.”

Garber also stated, “The University will not surrender its independence or its constitutional rights… The administration’s order exceeds the authority of the federal government. It violates Harvard’s First Amendment rights and exceeds the statutory limits of the government’s authority under Title VI. And it threatens our values ​​as a private institution dedicated to the pursuit, production, and dissemination of knowledge.”

In terms of how this will affect Harvard’s future, Norris notes: “Why should other international students come to America, let alone Harvard, if they can’t be sure that they have a guaranteed place? This stoppage will benefit Oxford, Cambridge and many other schools because, of course, the best of the brightest will be able to go to wherever they want. And then America will be in trouble again.”