Trump Administration Revokes Harvard’s Certification to Enroll International Students Over Campus Safety, Foreign Influence Allegations

Foreign students account for a quarter of the student body of the school, with around 6,800 at its campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts, seen here

The Trump administration has revoked Harvard University’s ability to enroll new international students and retain its current foreign student population, citing concerns over campus safety and alleged foreign influence.

On Thursday, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced it had withdrawn Harvard’s certification under the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP), effectively barring the institution from hosting international students. The department claimed the decision was driven by Harvard’s “failure to provide required information” and its alleged tolerance of what DHS described as “anti-American, pro-terrorist agitators” on campus.

A pedestrian wearing a Harvard University sweatshirt on the Harvard University campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US, on Wednesday, April 16, 2025

DHS accused the university’s leadership of allowing foreign students to engage in harassment, physical assault, and disruption, particularly targeting Jewish students. “Harvard University has created an unsafe campus environment,” the agency said. “Many of these agitators are foreign students.”

The department further alleged that Harvard ignored repeated requests to turn over information on criminal activity involving foreign students. According to DHS, Secretary Kristi Noem had previously demanded these records, warning of consequences for noncompliance.

“Harvard University brazenly refused to provide the required information requested and ignored a follow-up request from the Department’s Office of General Counsel,” the statement read.

Harvard University in the United States enrolled 6,751 international students from more than 140 countries in fall 2024. Students from China, Canada and India made up the largest groups, collectively accounting for 40% of the international cohort

Following the revocation order, Noem declared: “Let this serve as a warning to all universities and academic institutions across the country.”

Harvard swiftly condemned the action, calling it “unlawful” and retaliatory. “We are fully committed to maintaining Harvard’s ability to host our international students and scholars, who hail from more than 140 countries and enrich the University — and this nation — immeasurably,” the university said in a statement. “This retaliatory action threatens serious harm to the Harvard community and our country, and undermines Harvard’s academic and research mission.”

People walk between buildings on the campus of Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass.

According to DHS, the revocation means that currently enrolled international students at Harvard must transfer to other institutions or face loss of legal immigration status. As of fall 2023, international students made up over 27% of Harvard’s student body.

The move drew immediate legal pushback. A federal judge in Oakland, California, issued an injunction Thursday temporarily blocking the administration from terminating the legal status of Harvard’s international students, pending the outcome of an ongoing lawsuit.

The University logo displayed on a building on the campus

In a separate statement Thursday, Noem reiterated accusations that Harvard was “fostering violence, antisemitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party on its campus.” She added: “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.”

The action follows the Trump administration’s April decision to freeze $2.2 billion in federal grants to Harvard after the university rejected demands to dismantle its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs and screen international students for ideological beliefs.