Escalation: White House Targets Harvard’s Foreign Student Pipeline

Escalation: White House Targets Harvard’s Foreign Student Pipeline

President Donald Trump upped the ante in a major way in his fight with the administration of Harvard University. Citing national security concerns, Trump signed a temporary proclamation on Wednesday that bans foreign-national students, researchers, and instructors from “entering the US on student or foreign exchange visas” for at least the next six months.

The proclamation states:

Admission into the United States to attend, conduct research, or teach at our Nation’s institutions of higher education is a privilege granted by our Government, not a guarantee.  That privilege is necessarily tied to the host institution’s compliance and commitment to following Federal law.  Harvard University has failed in this respect, among many others.

The document emphasizes that China and other nations have long abused the student visa program for “improper purposes” to “steal technical information and products, exploit expensive research and development to advance their own ambitions, and spread false information for political or other reasons.”

It further authorizes the Secretary of State to evaluate and potentially revoke the visas of current Harvard students who meet the criteria set forth in the proclamation.

BREAKING: Trump has banned all foreign-national Harvard students and researchers from entering the US on student or foreign exchange visas. Shifts legal fight from one over State and DHS powers to presidential powers

— Josh Gerstein (@joshgerstein) June 5, 2025

This move significantly escalates the clash between the White House and Harvard’s top officials—and sends a clear warning to leaders at other elite universities.

Given that international students make up 27% of Harvard’s student body—and that many of them pay full tuition—the proclamation, if it withstands judicial scrutiny, poses a serious challenge for the university.

The statement accuses Harvard of repeatedly failing to furnish adequate information to the Department of Homeland Security about misconduct and even criminal behavior involving foreign students.

Harvard’s actions show that it either is not fully reporting its disciplinary records for foreign students or is not seriously policing its foreign students. In my judgment, these actions and failures directly undermine the Federal Government’s ability to ensure that foreign nationals admitted on student or exchange visitor visas remain in compliance with Federal law.

According to the proclamation, Harvard “is no longer a trustworthy steward of international student and exchange visitor programs.”

The document goes on to accuse Harvard of “develop[ing] extensive entanglements with foreign countries, including our adversaries. … Harvard has received more than $150 million in total contributions from foreign governments over the last 5 years, and over $1 billion from foreign sources.”

Especially concerning to the government is Harvard’s acceptance of more than $150 million from Chinese sources over the past decade. Citing an investigation by the House of Representatives Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, it claims that Harvard has “’repeatedly hosted and trained members of a Chinese Communist Party paramilitary organization’ … [and] partnered with China-based individuals on research that could advance China’s military modernization.”

The order notes the antisemitic sentiment that has been allowed to flourish on its campus and concludes, “Until such time as the university shares the information that the Federal Government requires to safeguard national security and the American public, it is in the national interest to deny foreign nationals access to Harvard under the auspices of educational exchange.”

In a Thursday news conference, Lin Jian, a spokesperson from China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said, “China-US educational cooperation is mutually beneficial. China has always opposed the politicization of educational cooperation.” Right.

This proclamation follows months of open hostility between the Trump administration and Harvard’s leadership. In particular, after Harvard failed to provide the conduct records of foreign students requested by the Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in April, she ordered her agency to end the university’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification.

Harvard responded with a lawsuit, claiming that the Trump administration did not “follow its own requirements for removing a university from the SEVP program” and maintained Noem’s order was “clear retaliation … for its refusal of the government’s ideologically rooted policy demands.”

Last week, CNN reported that U.S. District Court Judge Allison Burroughs, an Obama appointee, “ordered the Trump administration to not make any changes to Harvard’s international student visa program indefinitely.”

The reality is that while Harvard claims it is fighting for academic freedom or institutional autonomy, it is defending ideas and practices that, to many of us, run counter to core American values. The university now finds itself on the wrong side of a growing national reckoning.

At its core, Harvard’s fight is less about principle and more about protecting a status quo that serves its own interests. By defending antisemitism under the guise of free expression, pushing DEI ideology that divides more than it unites, and ignoring the siphoning of U.S. research and technology, the university isn’t standing up for American values—it’s actively eroding them.

Elizabeth writes commentary for Legal Insurrection and The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation. Please follow Elizabeth on LinkedIn or X.

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