UPDATE (May 23, 2025, 8:33 a.m. ET): Harvard University filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration on Friday over its termination of the school’s student visa program a day earlier. It succeeded in blocking the administration’s policy.
Harvard University has faced an unprecedented and radical offensive from Donald Trump and his team, which to date has focused on eliminating federal grants to the school, while simultaneously targeting Harvard’s tax-exempt status.
There is, however, a third element of the offensive. The New York Times reported:
The Trump administration on Thursday halted Harvard University’s ability to enroll international students, a major escalation in the administration’s efforts to pressure the college to fall in line with the president’s agenda. The administration notified Harvard about the decision after a back-and-forth in recent days over the legality of a sprawling records request as part of the Department of Homeland Security’s investigation, according to three people with knowledge of the negotiations.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem personally sent a letter to the university, which she posted to X later Thursday, that read in part, “I am writing to inform you that effective immediately, Harvard University’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification is revoked.”
This development is extraordinary, but it does not appear out of the blue: In mid-April, while canceling nearly $3 million in DHS grants to Harvard, Noem simultaneously demanded that the university turn over records on foreign students alleged to have engaged in “illegal and violent activities.” Failure to cooperate would jeopardize Harvard’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) certification — which allows schools to admit international students.
Evidently, Noem has now followed through on that threat.
These developments are still new and unfolding rapidly, and it’s difficult to say with any confidence what the Trump administration’s latest move will mean for international students expecting to begin coursework at Harvard in the fall. Just as notably, NBC News reported that the school’s existing foreign students must transfer to other schools or lose their legal status, though litigation on the matter could delay immediate action on this.
The number of people who stand to be affected is not small. As my MSNBC colleague Zeeshan Aleem recently explained, “about a quarter of the university’s student body is foreign,” suggesting that these development risk “transforming the institution.”
Noem’s move will almost certainly spark a court fight, and if recent history is any guide, the administration’s lawyers probably shouldn’t get their hopes up.
“The government’s action is unlawful,” the university responded in a written statement. “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.”
Stepping back, it’s also worth appreciating the multifaceted larger context. For one thing, Team Trump is waging an increasingly outlandish political war against one of world’s most respected institutions of higher learning, at least in part because Harvard hasn’t succumbed to a ridiculous list of demands from the White House. For another, these developments reflect a broader Trump administration campaign against higher education, specifically targeting some of the nation’s most prominent universities. But there’s also the underappreciated point that in this White House, there’s an apparent assumption that accepting international students at American colleges and universities is unwise. As recently as March, JD Vance said as much in no uncertain terms: Foreign students at elite U.S. universities are “not just bad for national security,” the vice president said, but also “bad for the American dream, for American kids who want to go to a nice university but can’t because their spot was taken by a foreign student.” This turns traditional American thought on its head. The United States has long welcomed many of the world’s best students, in part because of what they contribute to this country, and in part because they often bring home our lessons and values to improve their own countries. As the editorial board of The Washington Post recently summarized, “By crushing such aspirations, Trump weakens America’s global leadership.”
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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