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US President Donald Trump’s administration has revoked its ability to recognize Harvard international students as part of an intensifying with Ivy League institutions.
The Trump administration says thousands of students will need to move to different universities or leave the country.
“This means that Harvard will no longer be able to register foreign students and existing international students will need to transfer or lose their legal status,” the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said in a statement.
The agency made the announcement Thursday, saying Harvard University has developed a dangerous campus atmosphere by allowing “anti-American professional terrorist agitators” to attack Jewish students for that reason.
Additionally, Harvard University claimed that it was working with the Chinese Communist Party and hosted and provided training to members of Chinese paramilitary organizations in 2024.
Harvard University has nearly 6,800 international students enrolled on its campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts, making up more than a quarter of the student population.
The majority of these students pursue graduate studies and come from over 100 countries.
Harvard called the behavior illegal and said it was working to provide guidance to students.
“This retaliation action threatens serious harm to Harvard’s community and our country and undermines Harvard’s academic research mission,” the university said in a statement.
The conflict between the Trump administration and Harvard University, the oldest and wealthiest university in the United States, has escalated since Harvard became the first institution to openly resist the White House’s demands for change in elite schools labeled as liberal and anti-Semitic breweries.
The federal government cut federal grants by $2.6 billion (2.3 billion euros) to Harvard University, and let the university self-fund a significant portion of its large-scale research efforts. Trump has expressed his desire to strip the university of his tax-free status.
Homeland Security Secretary Christie Noem said the decision to prohibit Harvard from hosting international students for the next academic year stems from the April 16 request being unable to request information about international students.
A request from the Department of Homeland Security asked Ivy League universities to provide data relating to students involved in protest or dangerous activities to consider deportation.
Noem said Harvard University could regain its ability to host international students if it generates the desired record within 72 hours. Her updated request requests all records, including student audio or video footage.
A Harvard Democrat student said the Trump administration is playing with students’ lives, promoting radical agendas and keeping opposition quiet.
“Trump’s attacks on international students are textbook authoritarianism. Harvard must continue to hold the line,” the group said in a statement.
The administration has elicited condemnations from free speech groups that included the basis of individual rights and expression that the Norms said were demanding a “state of surveillance.”
“This drastic fishing expedition must reach a protected expression and be completely rejected,” the group said.
Additional sources •AP
