Harvard foreign enrolment freeze revoked by court as university sues US administration

A US judge on Friday blocked the Trump administration from revoking Harvard University's ability to enroll foreign students, a day after the administration revoked the university's ability to enroll international students and threatened to expand the crackdown to other schools.

In a complaint filed in Boston federal court earlier on Friday, Harvard called the revocation a "blatant violation" of the U.S. Constitution and other federal laws, and had an "immediate and devastating effect" on the university and more than 7,000 visa holders.

"With the stroke of a pen, the government has sought to erase a quarter of Harvard's student body, international students who contribute significantly to the University and its mission," Harvard said.

"It is the latest act by the government in clear retaliation for Harvard exercising its First Amendment rights to reject the government's demands to control Harvard's governance, curriculum, and the 'ideology' of its faculty and students," the university added.

"Without its international students, Harvard is not Harvard," the 389-year-old school added.

Trump administration clamping down on elite universities

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

Harvard enrolled nearly 6,800 international students in the 2024-2025 school year, amounting to 27% of its total enrollment, according to university statistics.

In 2022, Chinese nationals made up the biggest population of foreign students with 1,016, university figures show. After that were students from Canada, India, South Korea, the UK, Germany, Australia, Singapore and Japan.

“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," Noem said in a statement.

Harvard rejected the allegations and pledged to support foreign students.

“The government’s action is unlawful," the university said in a statement. "This retaliatory action threatens serious harm to the Harvard community and our country, and undermines Harvard’s academic and research mission.”

The university said it was "fully committed" to educating foreign students and was working on producing guidance for affected students.

In a separate lawsuit related to Trump efforts to terminate the legal status of hundreds of foreign students across the US, a federal judge ruled on Thursday that the administration could not end their status without following proper regulatory procedures. It was not immediately clear how that ruling would affect the action against Harvard.

During an interview with Fox News' "The Story with Martha MacCallum," Noem was asked if she was considering similar moves at other universities, including Columbia University in New York.

"Absolutely, we are," Noem said. "This should be a warning to every other university to get your act together." 

Trump targets universities

Trump has frozen some $3 billion in federal grants to Harvard in recent weeks, leading the university to sue to restore the funding.

The US Department of Health and Human Services said on Monday that it was terminating $60 million in federal grants to Harvard because the Ivy League institution failed to address antisemitic harassment and ethnic discrimination on campus.

In a legal complaint filed earlier this month, Harvard said it was committed to combating antisemitism and had taken steps to ensure its campus is safe and welcoming to Jewish and Israeli students. It said the administration's actions were a threat to academic freedom.

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow with the American Immigration Council, a pro-immigration advocacy group, said the action against Harvard's student visa program "needlessly punishes thousands of innocent students."

"None of them have done anything wrong, they're just collateral damage to Trump," he said on the social media site Bluesky.

Trump took office in January pledging a wide-ranging immigration crackdown. His administration has tried to revoke student visas and green cards of foreign students who participated in pro-Palestinian protests.

Foreign undergraduates at US colleges typically pay full tuition, an important source of revenue for colleges and universities.

International students at Harvard also contributed to the local economy, data from NAFSA, the Association of International Educators show. They spend $384 million a year in the 2023-2024 school year, supporting some 3,900 jobs through their payments for housing, dining, retail and other services and goods.

International students now over a quarter of Harvard's student body. 

China's Foreign Ministry responds

US actions will undoubtedly affect its image and credibility, said Mao Ning, spokesperson for the ministry, during a regular press briefing, adding that educational cooperation between China and the US benefits both parties.