Trump administration blocks Harvard from enrolling foreign students

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem ordered the department to terminate Harvard University’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in a statement.

The move comes after Harvard refused to provide information Noem had previously demanded about some foreign student visa holders who attend the university, DHS said.

“This administration is holding Harvard accountable for fostering violence, antisemitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party on its campus,” Noem said. “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 called the move illegal and said it was a retaliatory action that threatens the university.

“The government’s action is unlawful. We are fully committed to maintaining Harvard’s ability to host international students and scholars, who hail from more than 140 countries and enrich the University – and this nation – immeasurably," the university said in as statement.

The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The move marks a significant escalation of the Trump administration’s campaign against the elite Ivy League university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which has emerged as one of Trump’s most prominent institutional targets.

The Republican president has undertaken an extraordinary effort to revamp private colleges and schools across the United States that he deems too liberal or insufficiently acquiescent.

To justify his actions, he claims they foster "anti-American", "Marxist" or “radical left” ideologies and has criticised Harvard in particular for hiring prominent Democrats to teaching or leadership positions.

Last month Harvard was hit with a $2.2 billion freeze in federal funding after rejecting a list of sweeping demands that the White House claimed was intended to crack down on anti-Semitism on campus. It called for changes to the school's governance, hiring practices and admissions procedures, and expanded on a list Harvard received on April 3, which ordered school officials to shut diversity offices and cooperate with immigration authorities for screenings of international students.

Harvard later sued the Trump administration in a bid to halt the funding freeze. 

(FRANCE 24 with Reuters)