The United States Department of Homeland Security said Harvard University will lose its privilege to enroll foreign students if it does not meet the Trump administration’s requirements to share information on some visa holders.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem also announced on Wednesday that two DHS grants totalling more than $2.7 million to Harvard will be terminated.
Noem said she wrote a letter to Harvard demanding records on what she called the “illegal and violent activities” of Harvard’s foreign student visa holders by April 30.
“And if Harvard cannot verify it is in full compliance with its reporting requirements, the university will lose the privilege of enrolling foreign students,” Noem said in a statement.
A Harvard spokesperson said the university knew Noem’s letter “regarding grant cancellations and scrutiny of foreign student visas.”
The spokesperson said the university stood by its statement earlier in the week to “not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights” while saying it will comply with the law.
Trump’s administration has threatened universities with federal funding cuts over pro-Palestinian campus protests against United States ally Israel’s devastating military assault on Gaza after a deadly October 2023 attack by Palestinian Hamas militants.
Trump casts the protesters as foreign policy threats who are antisemitic and sympathetic to Hamas.
Protesters, including some Jewish groups, said the Trump administration wrongly conflates their advocacy for Palestinian rights and criticism of Israel’s actions in Gaza with support for extremism and antisemitism.
The Trump administration is also attempting to deport some foreign protesters and has revoked hundreds of visas across the country.
“With a $53.2 billion endowment, Harvard can fund its own chaos – DHS won’t,” Noem said, adding an “anti-American, pro-Hamas ideology” existed at Harvard.
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