Harvard University to not enroll foreign students anymore? Trump admin threatens ban amid row over tax-exempt status

The Trump administration threatened to ban the esteemed Harvard University from enrolling foreign students. The US government said on Wednesday it would stop Harvard University from enrolling foreign students if it did not agree to government demands to accept "outside political supervision".

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in a statement, “…if Harvard cannot verify it is in full compliance with its reporting requirements, the university will lose the privilege of enrolling foreign students.”

The US Department noted that since Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, Harvard’s "foreign visa-holding rioters and faculty have spewed antisemitic hate, targeting Jewish students."

It said, "With a $53.2 billion endowment, Harvard can fund its own chaos—DHS won’t."

Trump vs Harvard University

Trump is furious at the university for rejecting his request to submit to oversight on admissions, hiring and political slant.

US President Donald Trump had earlier decided to freeze $2.2 billion in federal funding to Harvard University, “proposing the revocation of its tax-exempt status over its radical ideology.”

US President Donald Trump had suggested that “Harvard should lose its Tax Exempt Status and be Taxed as a Political Entity if it keeps pushing political, ideological, and terrorist inspired/supporting 'Sickness?'”

"Harvard can no longer be considered even a decent place of learning, and should not be considered on any list of the World's Great Universities or Colleges," Trump said in a post on Truth social media platform.

The Harvard University has produced 162 Nobel prize winners.

He alleged that Harvard “has been hiring almost all woke, Radical Left, idiots and “birdbrains” who are only capable of teaching FAILURE to students and so-called ‘future leaders.’”

Earlier on April 16, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced the cancellation of two DHS grants totalling over $2.7 million to Harvard University.

Noem declared the university "unfit to be entrusted with taxpayer dollars."

“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," Noem added.