US Homeland Security Department threatens to revoke Harvard's ability to enrol foreign students

NEW YORK: The US Department of Homeland Security has threatened to revoke Harvard University's ability to enrol foreign students if it failed to provide by April 30 records on its international student visa holders' "illegal and violent" activities. It also cancelled grants totalling more than USD 2.7 million to Harvard University.

The latest action from the Trump administration against Harvard comes on the heels of a USD 2.2 billion federal funding freeze because the university rejected a list of demands. The administration also proposed the revocation of the university's tax-exempt status over its radical ideology.

"Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem announced the cancellation of two DHS grants totalling over $2.7 million to Harvard University, declaring it unfit to be entrusted with taxpayer dollars," the DHS said in a statement on Wednesday.

"The Secretary also wrote a scathing letter demanding detailed records on Harvard’s foreign student visa holders’ illegal and violent activities by April 30, 2025, or face immediate loss of Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) certification," it said.

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Anti-American ideology being taught at Harvard, says DHC secretary

“Harvard bending the knee to antisemitism — driven by its spineless leadership — fuels a cesspool of extremist riots and threatens our national security,” said Secretary Noem. “With anti-American, pro-Hamas ideology poisoning its campus and classrooms, Harvard’s position as a top institution of higher learning is a distant memory. America demands more from universities entrusted with taxpayer dollars," he said.

The DHS said the grants being cancelled were the USD 800,303 Implementation Science for Targeted Violence Prevention grant and the USD 1,934,902 Blue Campaign Program Evaluation and Violence Advisement grant. Since Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, Harvard’s foreign visa-holding rioters and faculty have "spewed antisemitic hate", targeting Jewish students, the statement said.

"With a USD 53.2 billion endowment, Harvard can fund its own chaos—DHS won’t," the statement said. "If Harvard cannot verify it is in full compliance with its reporting requirements, the university will lose the privilege of enrolling foreign students ," the statement added.

With 6,793 international students attending Harvard, they comprise 27.2% of its enrolment in the 2024-25 academic year, according to the university’s data.