Trump administration terminates Harvard's student visa program
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is eliminating the student visa program at Harvard University due to “pro-terrorist conduct” at campus protests, Fox News Digital has learned.
It’s a severe consequence for what DHS claims is Harvard’s refusal to comply with its requests for behavioral records of student visa holders.
“This administration is holding Harvard accountable for fostering violence, antisemitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party on its campus,” said DHS Secretary Kristi Noem. “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. They have lost their Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification as a result of their failure to adhere to the law. Let this serve as a warning to all universities and academic institutions across the country.”
Harvard may no longer enroll foreign students in the 2025-2026 school year, and existing foreign students must transfer or lose their legal status to reside in the U.S. before the next academic year begins.
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Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem offered Harvard 72 hours to provide the information requested for an opportunity to regain its visa program for the next school year. (Reuters/Michelle McLoughlin)
“As a result of your brazen refusal to comply with multiple requests to provide the Department of Homeland Security pertinent information while perpetuating an unsafe campus environment that is hostile to Jewish students, promotes pro-Hamas rhetoric, and employs racist ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ policies, you have lost this privilege,” Noem wrote in a letter to Maureen Martin, the university’s director of immigration services.
Noem offered Harvard 72 hours to provide the information requested for an opportunity to regain its visa program for the next school year.
She called the move the “direct result of Harvard’s epic failure to comply with simple reporting requirements.”
Harvard, meanwhile, asserted the termination was “unlawful.”
“The government’s action is unlawful. 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. We are working quickly to provide guidance and support to members of our community. This retaliatory action threatens serious harm to the Harvard community and our country, and undermines Harvard’s academic and research mission,” university spokesperson Jason Newton told Fox News Digital.
The records requested include any footage of protest activity involving students on visas and the disciplinary records of all students on visas in the last five years.
Noem said last month she had requested records related to visa-holding students enrolled in the university and Harvard’s counsel did not provide adequate information to meet the demand. After the DHS general counsel asked again for the information, Harvard provided an “insufficient, incomplete and unacceptable response,” she said.
“Consequences must follow to send a clear signal to Harvard and all universities that want to enjoy the privilege of enrolling foreign students, that the Trump administration will enforce the law and root out the evils of antisemitism in society and campuses,” said Noem.
