Trump administration revokes Harvard’s ability to enroll foreign students, says thousands must transfer

Harvard spokesperson Jason Newton called the government’s attempt to stop the school from enrolling foreign students “unlawful.”Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff

The Trump administration on Thursday revoked Harvard University’s ability to enroll foreign students, one of the most damaging steps yet in its campaign to reshape the university to align with President Trump’s worldview and agenda.

The move throws the futures of thousands of students into uncertainty only days after the deadline for members of the incoming freshman class to confirm their acceptance and as existing students solidify plans for the new academic year in September. It also raises questions about whether foreign students enrolled at Harvard can lawfully remain in the country.

The announcement followed weeks of back and forth between Harvard and the federal government over an extraordinary records request sent by Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem last month, according to a person familiar with the discussions and publicly available records. Originally, Noem demanded Harvard turn over extensive documentation about its foreign students, including disciplinary records.

In a letter Thursday, Noem said Harvard must turn over all of the requested records within 72 hours to restore its ability to enroll foreign students. If the revocation remains in place, it will mean “Harvard can no longer enroll foreign students and existing foreign students must transfer or lose their legal status,” according to a Department of Homeland Security press release.

Harvard spokesperson Jason Newton called the government’s attempt to stop the school from enrolling foreign students “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," he said. “This retaliatory action threatens serious harm to the Harvard community and our country, and undermines Harvard’s academic and research mission.”

International students make up approximately one-quarter of Harvard’s student body, nearly 6,800 students during the 2024-2025 academic year. The revocation affects F-visas, typically used by students, and J-visas, which can be used by professors, researchers, or students, among others.

It is but the latest salvo in the pressure campaign by the Trump administration, which has accused Harvard of failing to combat campus antisemitism, engaging in illegal discrimination through its diversity efforts, and indoctrinating students into leftist ideology. The administration cut nearly $3 billion of Harvard’s federal research funding and demanded the university submit to federal oversight.

Harvard has said it complies with the law. In April, the school sued the Trump administration, alleging the demands and the funding cuts violate federal laws and constitutional protections.

Matthew Maoina, an immigration attorney in Boston, said the Trump administration cannot legally stop Harvard from enrolling foreign students unless the school has violated the terms of the Student and Exchange Visitor Program that tracks student visa status.

“I don’t see the reason at all for this to be revoked,” he said.

Noem’s original records request, dated April 16, ordered the school to turn over any information about illegal conduct or “dangerous or violent activity” by student visa holders. It also asked for disciplinary records for any student visa holder who was punished for threatening other students or participating in protests. The broadest of the demands instructed Harvard to turn over proof every student visa holder was maintaining a minimum required course load to lawfully remain in the country.

On April 30, Harvard’s executive vice president, Meredith Weenick, announced the school had responded to the request and “provide[d] information required by law.”

But the Department of Homeland Security found that response and a subsequent one inadequate, according to Noem’s letter Thursday. She said Harvard refused to turn over records related to “misconduct and other offenses that would render foreign students inadmissible or removable.”

“Consequences must follow to send a clear signal to Harvard and all universities that want to enjoy the privilege of enrolling foreign students,” she wrote.

The revocation of foreign student enrollment could be a significant financial blow to the university if it isn’t reversed. Foreign students tend to pay a higher proportion of full tuition as they are generally not eligible for federal financial aid.

“This could cost Harvard hundreds of millions of dollars,” said Phillip Levine, an economics professor at Wellesley College. “When you add that to the other costs that may be imposed on them, it is a massive amount of money, even for Harvard.”

However, Larry Ladd, a former budget officer at Harvard, said for the university “it’s less of an impact financially than on their education and research mission.”

“They can replace, if they had to, international students at the undergraduate level, where the revenue comes in with domestic students,” he said. But the university admits graduate students “to support their research programs from everywhere in the world.”

Secretary of Education Linda McMahon recently announced that Harvard researchers are ineligible for new federal grants. The federal government is the biggest funder of scientific research in the country.

Ladd said the university is resilient, but that over the remainder of Trump’s presidential term, “Harvard will be a smaller place than it is now, or than it was in 2024. There will be fewer graduate students, and much less research than before. The scope of its work will be reduced.”

Scott Delaney, an environmental health researcher at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, said 40 percent of students are international. All public health school students are pursuing master’s or doctoral degrees.

“These are my colleagues who I work with every day. It’s hard to contemplate today’s fresh hell,” he said.

“Public health is a global enterprise. . . . Our goal is to produce best-in-world research, and to do that, we need the world’s best researchers. This attack, more than funding, cuts to the core of the community of folks who dedicate their lives to the public health of the world,” he said.

Students on Thursday were staggered by the administration’s announcement. Leo Gerdén, a Harvard senior from Sweden, wondered whether he would be able to graduate next week. “It is truly hard to process what is happening,” he said.

Noem’s letter said the policy change will affect Harvard enrollment for the 2025-2026 academic year, so seniors planning to graduate this semester may be spared.

Gerdén, an advocate for international students at Harvard, called the revocation “absolutely horrible, absolutely devastating, for all of us.”

He was especially concerned for those foreign students who were expecting to return in September, as well as incoming freshmen who now may be barred from Harvard.

“Four years ago, when I got into Harvard, it was truly the best day of my life,” he said. “And then imagine . . . seeing this, and your entire dream is being taken away from you. It is just so cruel.”

The Trump administration has accused Harvard of violating civil rights laws by failing to protect Jewish students from harassment and discrimination amid the campus protests over the Israel-Hamas war. In recent months, the government has arrested and threatened to deport international students linked to pro-Palestinian advocacy, including Tufts University student Rümeysa Öztürk.

Harvard leaders have said the university is taking steps to address campus antisemitism.

And, in earlier remarks, Harvard president Alan Garber defended international students. “They come to this country and to Harvard to learn and achieve at the highest levels, just as our US students do,” he said in a recent letter to Education Secretary Linda McMahon.

Governor Maura Healey, a Harvard graduate, said Thursday that the Trump administration’s move sends a “terrible message to the world” and to the tens of thousands of international students who come to Massachusetts for college.

“I don’t think it’s legal, and it’s just another example of President Trump attempting to silence critics,” Healey told reporters after an unrelated event at the State House. “The only one winning in this is China right now and other countries who are recruiting our faculty and students away.”

Nick Stoico, Diti Kohli, Liz Kowalczyk, and Matt Stout of the Globe staff contributed to this report.