Policy Alert: Harvard’s Enrollment of International Students

Action: On May 22, 2025, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) terminated Harvard University's Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) certification, eliminating the school's ability to enroll or matriculate foreign students. The move is a significant escalation in the Trump Administration's efforts to challenge Harvard and other universities for antisemitic campus climates following the October 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem claimed that Harvard was “fostering violence, antisemitism and coordinating with the Chinese Communist party on its campus.” Harvard termed the action “unlawful” and “retaliatory.” However, one day later a court granted Harvard’s motion for a temporary restraining order against DHS’ action, restoring Harvard’s ability to enroll international students.

Key Insights

• In April, DHS cancelled $2.7 million in Federal grants to Harvard and demanded detailed records on alleged violent and illegal activities of foreign student visa holders as well as any involvement in protests and the full disciplinary records of all international students for the past five years.
• In a public letter, Harvard's leadership confirmed a response was sent to the Department, but details were limited; one source told The New York Times that the letter concerned the “legality of a sprawling records request” which DHS Secretary Noem described as "simple reporting requirements."
• During the 2024-25 academic year, Harvard's international students represented 27.2% of total enrollment, 6,793 students from 140 countries. Absent the judicial relief, students would have had to transfer to another tertiary education or lose their F- or J- nonimmigrant student visa.
• Harvard President Alan Garber has taken a strong line in response to actions from the Administration, stating that “no government – regardless of which party is in power – should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue.” He added that “[t]he university will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights [This action] violates Harvard’s First Amendment rights and exceeds the statutory limits of the government’s authority under Title VI. And it threatens our values as a private institution devoted to the pursuit, production and dissemination of knowledge.”
• The next step in the litigation is a hearing on May 29 for a formal preliminary injunction against the DHS action. The judge overseeing the litigation also presided over a 2020 case in which DHS’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement sought to require all international students studying only online during the pandemic to leave the country; DHS later rescinded the policy before a final ruling in that case.