Trump Bans Harvard's Foreign Student Enrolment

May 23, 2025 - US President Donald Trump on May 22 issued an order that would bar international students from enrolling at Harvard University. The Trump administration's Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem announced the decision for revoking of Harvard’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) certification.

This order puts nearly 6,800 foreign students (more than 25% of Harvard’s enrolment) at risk of losing their legal status in the country. Additionally, foreign students currently studying at Harvard will either have to transfer or risk losing their legal status.

Explaining the reason for revoking of SEVP, Noem said that Harvard had become a hub for violence, antisemitism and collaboration with the Chinese Communist Party. She added that the university was “perpetuating an unsafe campus environment that is hostile to Jewish students, promotes pro-Hamas sympathies and employs racist ‘diversity, equity and inclusion’ policies”.

According to the Homeland Security, the university had been warned in April that its certification would only remain valid if it complied with US immigration laws. Noem said Harvard failed to provide records requested about its foreign students.

However, she added that the university could restore its SEVP certification within 72 hours if it complies with the government’s requirement of extensive documentation including “disciplinary records for international students, plus any audio and video recordings of protest activity”.

In response, Harvard University has called the Trump administration’s order illegal and retaliatory and a serious threat to its academic and research mission. The university said the move poses a serious threat not only to the institution but to the US higher education system as a whole. It said “We remain committed to hosting international students and scholars from over 140 countries and to enriching the university through their presence.”

In the previous academic year, 30% of Harvard’s 22,000 full-time enrolments were international students. After China and Canada, India contributes to the third-largest number of international students. For the 2024-25 academic year, 788 Indian students and researchers are enrolled at Harvard.

Founded on October 28 in 1636, Harvard is the oldest institution of higher education in the US and the wealthiest university in the country. It has previously refused to accept Federal control over its admissions, hiring and political policies, placing it in direct conflict with Trump. As a result, the Trump administration cut $2.2 billion in funding to Harvard in March-April and an additional $450 million in mid-May.

With Media Inputs