(Sarah Roderick-Fitch, The Center Square) A day after Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced the Trump administration was terminating Harvard University‘s foreign student visa “privileges,” a federal judge has temporarily blocked the administration from halting the program.
Judge Allison Burroughs of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts issued a temporary restraining order Friday morning after Harvard filed a complaint claiming the Trump administration’s actions were a “blatant violation of the First Amendment.”
Friday morning, Harvard President Alan Garber issued a message, accusing the Trump administration of retaliating against the school for their “refusal to surrender our academic independence and to submit to the federal government’s illegal assertion of control over our curriculum, our faculty, and our student body.”
He added that the program’s termination “imperils the futures of thousands of students and scholars across Harvard and serves as a warning to countless others at colleges and universities throughout the country who have come to America to pursue their education and fulfill their dreams.”
Garber said that the university “did respond to the Department’s requests as required by law.”
The move to terminate the program could impact over 27% of Harvard’s student population.
Noem accused Harvard of creating an “unsafe campus environment by permitting anti-American, pro-terrorist agitators to harass and physically assault individuals,” citing several Jewish students. The secretary added that many of the “agitators are foreign students.”
The secretary further accused the university leadership of facilitating and engaging in “coordinated activity with the CCP, including hosting and training members of a CCP paramilitary group complicit in the Uyghur genocide.”
“This administration is holding Harvard accountable for fostering violence, antisemitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party on its campus,” said 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.”
In April, Noem demanded that the university submit information regarding the “criminality and misconduct of foreign students” on campus. She warned the school that if they didn’t comply with her order, the agency would terminate the university’s foreign student program.
Noem defended the action from DHS, saying the university “brazenly” ignored the request, adding that she is “following through on her promise to protect students and prohibit terrorist sympathizers from receiving benefits from the U.S. government.”
Also in April, the Harvard Crimson, the student newspaper, reported that three students and two recent graduates had their student visas revoked. The Harvard International Office said it was unaware of the “details of the revocations or the reasons for them.”
Noem cited several examples of alleged antisemitism as reasons for terminating the foreign student program. She also cited increased crime, DEI practices and close ties to the CCP. The secretary noted that the university has received $151 million from foreign governments since January 2020.
This past academic year, for 2024-2025, the university had 6,793 foreign students enrolled, according to Harvard data. The number of foreign students has nearly doubled in the last 20 years. During the 2006-2007 academic year, the university had 3,941 foreign students enrolled, comprising 19.6% of the student population.
