Donald Trump has demanded the “names and countries” of all Harvard University international students now enrolled, intensifying his administration’s pressure campaign against the Ivy League school.
In a May 25 post on Truth Social, Trump called for openness from the university, saying, “We want to know who those foreign students are, a reasonable request given that we give Harvard BILLIONS OF DOLLARS, but Harvard isn’t really forthcoming.” We seek those names and nations.
The post appeared just days after a federal judge temporarily halted a Trump administration policy meant to exclude Harvard from enrolling anybody in the U.S. on a student visa. Trump did not explain which agency would handle the data or how it would be applied.
The argument heated up when Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told Harvard that its engagement in the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) would be canceled “effective immediately,” thereby barring the university from hosting foreign students. Noem claimed that in order to stay in the U.S., these pupils would have to switch to a different SEVP-approved college.
Harvard reacted by suing the administration, labeling the action a “blatant violation” of the First and Fourteenth Amendments. On May 23, Judge Allison Burroughs, whom former President Barack Obama appointed, ruled temporarily in Harvard’s favor. She decided the policy of the administration would inflict “immediate and irreparable damage” on the university’s community and campus.
This show is the most recent in a larger trend of investigation from Trump’s administration focusing on prestigious colleges. Federal authorities have begun inquiries into campus diversity initiatives and charged schools with not safeguarding Jewish students from antisemitism.
Trump wrote on social media, “Harvard has $52,000,000, use it, and stop asking for the Federal Government to continue GRANTING money to you!”
